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AMOiNG  THE  ALASKANS 


BY 

JULIA   McNAIR   WRIGHT 

Author  of  "Almost  a  Nun,"  "The  Complete  Home, 
"  Early  Church  of  Britain,"  etc.,  etc. 


'  Oh  !  if  the  Lord  himself  takes  hold  of  them,  that  is  another  thing." 


PHILADELPHIA 

PRESBYTERIAN   BOARD   OF   PUBLICATION 

1334  CHESTNUT  STREET 


COPYRIGHT,    4883,    BY 

THE   TRUSTEES   OF   THE 

PRESBYTERIAN  BOARD  OF  PUBLICATION. 


j4LL  rights  RESERIHD. 


Westcott  &  Thomson, 
Stereotypers  and  Electrotypers,  Philada. 


90^ 


KusoN  OR  Roberts^  \  vol 

PRINCEOFWALESISLAND^sS 


JACKSON\:t.j   <}k^'y^er^^^ 


C.    IMASSPTI 


MAP  OF 
SOUTH   EASTERN 
ALASKA  „ 


mo 


13  c 


1259713 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2008  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/amongalaskansOOwrig 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   I. 

PAGB 

A  Vision  in  the  North-west 9 

CHAPTER  n. 
A  Story  of  the  Past 29 

CHAPTER    III. 
A  New  View  of  American  Citizens 52 

CHAPTER   IV. 
The  Alaska  of  the  Future 77 

CHAPTER    V. 
Behold  !  Morning  ! 94 

CHAPTER    VI. 
The  Church  Awakes no 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Progress  at  Fort  Wrangeli 121 

5 


6  CONTENTS. 

CIIArTER   VIII. 

PAGB 

The  Mission  at  Sitka 158 

CHAPTER   IX. 
Modern  Heroes ig8 

CHAPTER   X. 
Standards  Set  Up 244 

CEIAPTER   XL 
Home-Schools  in  Alaska 263 

CHAPTER   XIT. 
Boats  and  Saw-Mills 283 

CHAPTER   Xni. 
Education  in   Alaska 298 

CHAPTER   XIV. 
Purial-Customs  ok  the  Alaskans 309 

CHAPTER    XV. 
Indian  Progress   in  Alaska 334 


APPENDIX 343 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


FAGB 

Map  of  South-Eastern  Alaska 3 

Moonlight  Scene  on  the  Arctic  Coast 11 

Yukon  River,  at  the  Ramparts 15 

Red  Leggins,  a  Chief  at  Fort  Yukon  in  1867.  ...    31 

Sitka  from  the  South,  in  1867 43 

Herald  Island,  in  the  Arctic  Ocean 53 

Totem-Poles,  Fort  Wrangell 59 

A  Canoe-Burial 69 

Village   on   the   Lower    Yukon    River    during   the 

Fishing- Season 85 

Fort  Wrangell,  Alaska 123 

Sarah  Dickinson,  the  Interpreter 129 

Alaskan  Girl,  Tattooed 133 

Alaskan  Woman:  Tattooing  Indicative  of  High  Rank.  135 
Presbyterian  Church  and  McFarland   Home,   Fort 

Wrangell,  Alaska 147 

Sitka,  Alaska,  from  the  West 159 

"Boy  I,  in  House  No.  38" 181 

7 


8  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGB 

Miss  Austin  and  a  Class  uf  Koys,  "  Shklijon  Jackson 

Institute" 185 

Dormitory,  •' Sheldon  Jackson  Institute  School"  .   .  189 

Dk.  Jackson  Traveling  with  Indians 201 

Mission  Residence  and  Schoolhouse,  Haines,  Alaska.  209 
KuTCHiN  Lodge  on  the  Upper  Yukon  River,  Alaska.  282 
The  Harbor  of  Sitka,  with  Outlying  Islands  .    .    .  285 

Lodge-Buriai 311 

Ingalik  Grave 317 

Innuit  Grave 319 

Canoe-Burial 323 

Burial-Basket  for  a  Baky 325 

Alaskan  Cremation 331 


AMONG  THE  ALASKANS. 


CHAPTER   I. 

A    VISION  IN  THE   NORTH-WEST. 

THIRTY  years  ago  what  would  have 
been  the  mental  picture  of  Alaska 
that  a  pupil  interested  in  the  study  of 
geography  could  have  been  able  to  fashion 
for  himself  from  the  information  within  his 
reach  ?  A  meagre  paragraph  in  print  and 
a  narrow  space  on  the  atlas  represented 
nearly  all  his  sources  of  information.  A 
stray  book  of  travels  might  have  come 
within  the  reach  of  a  reading  youth,  and 
have  afforded  some  few  starting-points  for 
flights  of  the  imagination  as  to  those  far- 
away regions. 

The   student  thus  circumstanced  beheld 
Alaska  as  a  peninsula   on   the  north-west 

9 


lO  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

coast  of  North  America — a  peninsula  be- 
longing to  the  empire  of  Russia,  and  one 
which,  so  far  as  he  knew,  might  have  been 
trimmed  off  the  mainland  with  much  advan- 
tage to  the  symmetry  of  the  continent,  and 
Vi^ith  small  loss  to  creation  in  general. 

From  its  relative  space  on  the  map,  he 
estimated  the  area  of  Alaska  to  be  less  than 
that  of  Maine.  It  had  a  river — the  Yukon 
— which  to  compare  with  the  Hudson  would 
be  the  same  as  comparing  Mantua  to  great 
Rome.  There  was  also  a  mount — St.  Elias 
— not  worthy  to  be  named  on  the  same  day 
as  Mount  Washington  ;  a  rambling  coast- 
line, with  certain  forlorn  islands  obstructive 
to  northern  navigation.  Over  this  lonely 
land  the  imaginative  student  saw  the  faint 
shining  of  Northern  Lights  upon  fields  of 
snow ;  glaciers  chilled  the  air  and  rebuked 
the  incursion  of  men  ;  a  few  Indians  with 
doo-sledgfes  and  skin  canoes  wandered 
hopeless  as  the  unburied  dead  along  the 
margin  of  the  Styx.  The  other  examples 
of  animal  life  were  a  few  reindeer,  certain 
shaggy  bears  and  unwieldy  walruses  resting 
on  blocks  of  floating  ice. 


A    VISION  IN  THE   NORTH-WEST.  1 3 

With  such  a  notion  of  Alaska,  or  "Rus- 
sian America,"  we  who  were  children  thirty 
years  ago  arrived  at  our  majority.  It  was 
the  outcropping  of  this  idea  that  caused 
the  land,  at  the  time  of  its  purchase,  to 
be  loudly  called  "  Seward's  Folly "  and 
produced  that  outburst  of  newspaper  con- 
demnation and  sarcasm  which  drowned  the 
magnificent  echoes  of  Sumner's  oration  in 
favor  of  the  purchase. 

In  all  that  storm  of  opprobrium  Secre- 
tary Seward  held  unmoved  his  own  con- 
viction of  the  wisdom  of  his  act ;  but,  with 
the  far-reaching  hope  of  the  true  states- 
man, he  freely  admitted  :  "  It  may  take  two 
generations  to  learn  to  appreciate  the  pur- 
chase." Less  than  one  generation  has 
passed,  and  public  sentiment  has  heartily 
endorsed  the  act  of  the  far-sighted  public 
servant,  and  to  the  Church  of  God  and  its 
faithful  missionaries  does  the  old  statesman 
owe  this  early  vindication  of  his  position. 
Two  generations  and  more  miorht  have 
passed,  and  the  people  of  the  United  States 
have  still  been  left  in  ignorance  of  the  enor- 
mous value  of  their  new  possession,  had  not 


14  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

the  Church — we  may  add,  in  this  case,  the 
Presbyterian  Church — made  known  the 
magnificence  of  our  purchase  from  Rus- 
sia. 

The  Church  of  God  has  ever  been  the 
conservator  and  the  pioneer  of  true  science 
and  of  discovery.  No  Stanley  would  have 
fiunof  wide  the  doors  of  "  the  Dark  Conti- 
nent"  had  not  a  Livingstone  and  a  Moffat 
o-one  before.  In  a  small  work  devoted 
strictly  to  Alaska  it  is  not  needful  to  mul- 
tiply examples  of  this  asserted  fact — exam- 
ples within  the  reach  of  every  unbiased 
mind.  Rather  would  we  now  estimate  the 
flood  of  geographical  and  scientific  light 
poured  by  the  Church  on  Alaska,  and  that 
by  the  very  simple  means  of  laying  the  old 
idea  upon  the  new,  comparing  the  view  of 
thirty  years  ago  with  the  Alaska  of  to-day : 
then  none  were  so  poor  as  to  do  the  land 
reverence ;  now  its  welfare  and  its  possi- 
bilities are  among  the  great  interests  of  the 
times.  For  ten  years  the  mist  that  brood- 
ed over  our  northernmost  territory  has 
been  melting  away.  The  process  finds 
its  description  in   the  poet's  picture  : 


A    VISION  IN   THE   NORTH-WEST.  1/ 

"  At  noon  to-day 
Over  our  cliffs  a  white  mist  lay  unfurled, 
So  thick  one  standing  on  their  brink  might  say, 
'  Lo  !  here  doth  end  the  world.' 

"  But  deep,  deep, 
The  subtle  mist  went  floating;  its  descent 
Showed  the  world's  end  was  steep. 

"  Then  once  again  it  sank  :  its  day  was  done. 
Part  rolled  away,  part  vanished  utterly. 
And,  glimmering  softly  under  the  white  sun, 
Behold  !  a  great  white  sea." 

So,  through  the  mists  of  ignorance  and 
indifference,  slowly  emerges  a  portion  of 
country  hereafter  to  become,  as  Seward 
suggested,  "many  States." 

At  this  hint  the  idea  of  area  first  arises 
in  our  comparison,  and,  lo !  the  tract  that 
seemed  as  larsje  as  Maine,  shows  itself  as 
laree  as  all  of  the  United  States  east  of 
the  Mississippi  and  north  of  Georgia  and 
the  Carolinas — in  other  words,  one-six^th  of 
the  whole  area  of  the  United  States,  over 
half  a  million  square  miles.  That  river, 
the  Yukon,  that  once  showed  so  small,  now 
appears  navigable  for  nearly  three  thousand 
miles,*  is  seventy  miles  wide  at  its  delta  of 

*  Report  of  Robert  Campbell  of  Hudson   Bay  Company,  to 
Senator  M.  C.  Butler,  United  States  Senate. 
2 


l8  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

five  mouths,  and  has  tributaries  from  one  to 
two  hundred  miles  long.  The  Mississippi, 
with  the  Missouri,  is  four  thousand  three 
hundred  miles  long,  and  one  hundred  and 
fifty  miles  wide  at  the  delta  of  three  main 
mouths ;  the  Amazon  is  three  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  fifty  miles  long,  and  one 
hundred  and  fifty  miles  wide  at  its  delta  of 
three  main  mouths;  the  Nile  is  four  thou- 
sand miles  long,  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles 
wide  at  its  delta  of  five  principal  mouths. 
Nor  is  the  Yukon  the  only  river  of  Alaska: 
the  Kuskokvim  is  almost  six  hundred  miles 
long,  and  others  vary  from  one  hundred  to 
two  hundred  and  fifty  miles. 

Turning  to  the  mountains  of  Alaska,  we 
find  Mount  St.  Elias  towering  up  nineteen 
thousand  five  hundred  feet,  and  Mount 
Cook  lifts  its  peaks  sixteen  thousand  feet 
above  sea-level.  In  comparison  with  these 
lofty  altitudes,  how  small  does  Mount  Wash- 
ington seem  at  six  thousand  two  hundred 
and  thirty-four  feet! 

The  coast-line  of  Alaska,  we  find,  would 
girdle  the  globe ;  the  area  of  its  islands  is 
more  than  thirty-one  thousand  square  miles. 


A    VISION  IN   THE   NORTH-WEST.  1 9 

Given  this  physical  frame  of  the  penin- 
sula, and  exploration  and  widely-spread  in- 
formation now  enable  us  to  clothe  it  with 
forests  and  with  grazing-lands,  and  to  peo- 
ple its  woods  and  its  waters  with  animal 
life,  whilst,  in  addition  to  this,  the  prescient 
eye  discerns  enormous  mineral  wealth 
hoarded  under  the  soil  and  in  the   rocks. 

To  return  again  in  our  quest  for  infor- 
mation, we  see  this  coast-line,  its  deep  in- 
dentings  representing  an  extent  of  twenty- 
five  thousand  miles.  Is  there  any  meaning 
in  this — any  advantage?  Professor  Guyot 
tells  us  that  "  it  is  a  remarkable  fact  that 
deeply-indented  and  well-articulated  conti- 
nents are,  and  have  always  been,  the  abode 
ot  the  most  highly-civilized  nations.  The 
unindented  ones,  shut  up  within  themselves, 
and  less  accessible  from  without,  have 
played  no  important  part  in  the  drama  of 
the  world's  history.  It  should  be  remem- 
bered, however,  that  variety  of  contour  is 
but  the  expression  of  a  complicated  inner 
structure,  which,  together  with  the  climatic 
situation  of  the  northern  continents,  has 
had  a  large  share  in  this  result." 


20  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

■-■» 

That  which  the  physical  geographer 
would  predicate  from  the  conformation  of 
the  land  is  recognized  as  fact  by  those  ac- 
quainted with  the  Alaskan  population.  Vin- 
cent Colyer,  special  Indian  commissioner  to 
Alaska,  says,  with  reference  to  the  more 
advanced  natives  of  Southern  Alaska :  "  I 
do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  if  three-fourths  of 
these  Alaskan  Indians  were  landed  in  New 
York  as  coming  from  Europe,  they  would 
be  selected  as  among  the  most  intelligent 
of  the  many  worthy  emigrants  who  daily 
arrive  at  that  port."  "  They  are  a  people 
mad  after  education,"  said  an  American 
sailor  stationed  at  Sitka. 

The  mountain-range  along  the  Alaskan 
coast  is  a  continuation  of  that  which  be- 
gins in  Mexico — a  vast  volcanic  chain  flung 
up  as  if  for  a  barrier  against  the  Pacific 
sea  ;  which  chain,  running  along  the  Alas- 
kan peninsula,  finally  invades  the  ocean  in 
a  mighty  loop  of  volcanic  islands  reaching 
almost  to  Kamtchatka.  This  series  of 
Aleutian  islands  is  flung  out  between 
America  and  Asia  in  the  form  of  those 
rope-bridges    which   are    still    common    in 


A    VISION  IN   THE   NORTH-WEST.  21 

South   America.      Who    can    tell    if    they* 
have  not  in  former  ages  served  the  same 
purpose  and  been  the  footpath  whereby  the 
children  of  the  East  found   their  dwellines 
in  the  West? 

These  mountains  of  Alaska  have  snow- 
capped peaks  and  forest-clothed  sides ; 
down  their  deep  ravines  rush  melted  ice 
and  snow  to  fill  and  deepen  the  channels 
of  the  rivers,  and  with  the  waters  comes 
fresh  soil  for  the  wide  intervales.  These 
mountains  are  the  great  volcanic  region 
of  North  America.  Along  the  sharp  penin- 
sula extending  into  Behring's  Sea  and  upon 
the  Aleutian  islands  sixty-one  volcanoes 
have  belched  out  smoke  and  ashes  within 
the  knowledge  of  white  men,  and  ten  are 
now  in  active  operation.  To  be  thankful 
for  volcanoes  is  perhaps  to  have  an  insight 
of  the  moral  uses  of  dark  things  ;  and  yet 
how  many  of  us  have  looked  to  Vesuvius 
as  a  major  part  of  Italy  and  willingly,  if 
wearily,  climbed  its  steeps ! 

But  it  is  evident  that  all  the  physical  ad- 
vantages of  a  country  will  to  a  large  extent 
fail  of  securing  a  population  if  the  climate 


22  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

is  inveterately  hostile  to  human  Hfe.  What 
is  the  dimate  of  Alaska  ? 

Far  north  as  this  land  lies,  it  is,  like  Eng- 
land, rescued  from  the  desolation  of  the 
Northland  by  an  ocean-current.  Sweep- 
ing- from  the  warm  islands  of  Asia,  a  gulf- 
stream  twin  to  that  which  leaves  our  eastern 
border  and  blesses  England  swells  in  a 
bountiful  flood  against  the  southern  coast 
of  Alaska ;  so  that  "  the  mean  annual  tem- 
perature of  Sitka  is  the  same  as  that  of 
Georgia  in  winter.  In  summer  it  is  the 
same  as  that  of  Michigan." 

Of  course  a  country  extending  through 
so  many  degrees  of  latitude  must  have  va- 
rieties of  temperature.  Northern  and  Cen- 
tral Alaska  have  intense  cold.  In  Central 
Alaska,  after  a  very  severe  winter,  comes 
a  short  summer,  often  of  intense  heat ;  but 
all  that  southern  coast,  extending  for  thou- 
sands of  miles  along  bays  and  straits,  and 
for  some  miles  inland,  has  a  remarkably 
salubrious  climate,  the  mean  annual  tem- 
perature of  the  winter  being  that  of  Ken- 
tucky, as  proved  by  notes  made  during 
forty-five  winters  past.     It  was  observation 


A    VISION  IN   THE   NORTH- WEST.  2$ 

of  this  climate  which  caused  Secretary  Sew- 
ard to  say  in  his  speech  at  Sitka :  "  It  must 
be  a  fastidious  person  who  complains  of  a 
climate  in  which,  while  the  eagle  delights  to 
soar,  the  humming-bird  does  not  disdain  to 
flutter.  ...  I  have  lost  myself  in  admira- 
tion of  skies  adorned  with  gold  and  sap- 
phire as  richly  as  those  reflected  in  the 
Mediterranean.  .  .  .  Some  men  seek  dis- 
tant climes  for  health,  and  some  for  pleas- 
ure: Alaska  invites  the  former  class  by  a 
climate  singularly  salubrious ;  the  latter 
class,  by  scenery  unrivaled  in  magnifi- 
cence." Those  accustomed  to  the  clear 
atmosphere  and  the  marvelous  skies  of  the 
Central,  Southern  and  Western  States — 
skies  surpassing  the  famed  heavens  of 
Italy — no  doubt  find  even  Southern  Alaska 
too  misty,  foggy  and  with  too  frequent  rains 
for  their  taste  ;  and  yet  those  who  have 
lived  in  London  know  that  all  these  con- 
ditions prevail  there  without  antagonizing 
the  health  or  happiness  of  men  or  the 
prosperity  of  commerce. 

This    consideration    of    the    climate    of 
Alaska  suggests  a  glance  at  its  vegetable 


24  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

productions.  Once  we  dreamed  of  finding 
there  only  the  hchcn  of  the  North,  hidden 
under  beds  of  snow.  Instead  of  this,  we 
find  inimitable  forests  so  dense  that  the 
eye  cannot  penetrate  their  glades.  Pine, 
hemlock  and  cedar,  spruce,  balsam-fir  and 
Cottonwood  are  here.  Poplar  attains  such 
a  size  that  the  Indian  shapes  of  its  trunk 
a  canoe  capable  of  carrying  sixty  warriors. 
The  birch,  the  larch  and  the  cypress  thrive 
here ;  and,  as  said  Seward  after  personal 
observation,  "  no  beam  or  pillar  or  spar  or 
mast  or  plank  is  ever  required  in  land  or 
naval  architecture,  by  any  civilized  state, 
greater  in  length  or  width  than  can  be  had 
from  these  trees,  hewn  and  conveyed  direct- 
ly to  the  coast  by  navigation."  Under  this 
towering  mass  of  trees  luxuriates  a  won- 
derful growth  of  shrubs,  particularly  of 
all  varieties  of  berry-bearing  bushes  and 
vines.  Fifteen  kinds  of  berries  and  all 
varieties  of  currants  are  plentiful.  Hun- 
dreds of  barrels  of  cranberries  go  yearly 
to  California. 

But  now   emerge    from   the    forest-land, 
from  the   mountain-sides    and  the    caiions, 


A    VISION  IN   THE   NORTH -WEST.  25 

from  the  black  foot-hills,  and  go  westward 
and  northward,  and  you  have  a  sea  of  grass 
— blue  grass,  blue  joint  and  wood-meadow 
— which  caused  Mr.  N.  H.  Dall  of  the  Smith- 
sonian Institute  to  declare  that  here  would 
be  the  dairy-land  of  California  and  one  of 
the  best  hay-  and  cattle-lands  of  the  United 
States.  Over  these  uncultivated  spaces  a 
splendid  growth  of  flowers  mingles  with 
the  grass :  white  and  gold  are  the  favor- 
ite colors  of  Flora  in  this  region. 

Break  up  the  earth  that  for  ages  has 
borne  unchallenged  this  rank  vegetation, 
and  you  can  have  a  garden  that  will  amply 
repay  care.  Cabbages — one  of  the  plants  in- 
digenous here — reach  twenty-seven  pounds' 
weight ;  potatoes  thrive ;  cauliflower  and 
celery  do  so  well  nowhere  else.  It  may 
be  broadly  said  that  all  root-vegetables 
flourish  here,  while  the  gourd,  vetch  and 
bean  families  are  not  apt  to  prosper.  Pro- 
fessor Muir  of  California  declared  that, 
outside  of  the  tropics,  he  had  never  seen 
vegetation  ranker  than  in  Alaska. 

This  abundant  provision  of  herbage  has 
made  possible  a  teeming  animal  life.     Fur- 


26  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

bearino-  animals  are  plentilul ;  deer  are  so 
numerous  that  their  tlesh  is  httle  prized. 
The  waters  are  full  of  life ;  salmon  are 
abundant  and  of  the  best  quality  ;  the 
seal-fisheries  of  two  small  islands  have  paid 
to  the  United  States  government  a  rental 
of  over  three  million  dollars  in  nine  years, 
being  four  per  cent,  on  the  purchase-money 
paid  to  Russia  for  the  entire  territory. 
Otter-skins  bring  from  twenty  to  two  hun- 
dred dollars  each,  and  are  plentiful;  there 
are  codfish  here  to  supply  the  world  when 
our  Eastern  fisheries  fail. 

But  the  territorial  wealth  does  not  con- 
sist alone  in  animal  life.  Minerals  abound  ; 
coal  crops  out  everywhere  ;  petroleum  floats 
on  the  lakes.  Says  Secretary  Seward  or  a 
visit  to  the  Chilcat  River  :  "  I  found  there  not 
a  single  iron  mountain,  but  a  whole  range  of 
hills  the  very  dust  of  which  adhered  to 
the  magnet."  The  coal  in  this  locality  is 
remarkably  impregnated  with  resin,  mak- 
ing itunusually  inflammable, and  particularly 
suitable  for  the  manufacture  of  iron.  Cop- 
per abounds ;  gold  is  not  wanting,  and 
stamp-mills  have  been  erected  near  Juneau 


A    r/SIOiV  IN   THE   NORTH-WEST.  2"] 

for  the  reduction  of  gold-ores.  The  mar- 
ble of  Alaska  is  inexhaustible  ;  limestone 
abounds ;  sulphur,  bismuth,  kaolin,  fire-clay 
and  gypsum  are  found,  with  the  less  valu- 
able of  precious  stones,  as  amethysts,  agates, 
carnelian  and  garnet. 

Yet,  however  a  land  may  teem  with 
wealth,  it  may  be  so  deficient  in  means 
of  outlet  that  its  treasures  are  scarcely 
available.  Is  this  the  case  with  Alaska? 
We  recall  what  has  been  said  of  the  coast- 
line. The  variety  of  indenture  of  the  coast 
depends  on  the  mountains  that  form  a  ram- 
part, and  on  the  rivers  that  break  through 
them.  These  mountains,  advancing  their 
spurs  into  the  sea,  afford  capes  and  prom- 
ontories, and  deep  water  near  the  coast, 
while  the  outcome  of  the  numberless  rivers 
will  open  highways  to  the  interior.  The 
coast  is  lined  with  commodious  harbors ; 
sites  for  manufacturing  and  commercial 
towns  abound ;  navigable  streams  give 
means  of  conveying  the  enormous  mineral, 
vegetable  and  peltry  wealth  of  the  interior 
to  the  sea,  aftd  so  to  our  commercial 
centres. 


28  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

Here,  then,  Is  a  land,  not  too  difficult  of 
access,  containing  in  itself  material  for  food, 
fuel,  lights,  shelter  and  much  of  the  clothing 
of  men,  abounding  in  sources  of  wealth — 
a  land  in  climate  suited  to  human  life  and 
human  activity.  The  territory  at  which  we 
scoffed  as  an  unendurable  waste  of  snow, 
a  rocky  desolation,  promises  to  be  a  rich 
and  noble  portion  of  our  wonderfully  favored 
country.  It  waits  for  its  inhabitants,  for  the 
alphabet  and  the  ten  commandments,  for 
the  Church,  the  common  school  and  civil 
law. 

Far  in  the  north-west  a  door  of  vision 
has  been  fkmg  wide  open  before  our  eyes  ; 
across  the  leaping  waters  at  the  edge  of 
the  sunset,  under  the  flaming  of  its  daz- 
zling auroras,  we  gaze  at  it,  rich  beyond 
belief  in  what  the  eood  God  has  hoarded 
there  for  the  youngest-born  of  the  na- 
tions ;  and  we  see  Russia  and  America 
courteously  treating  for  it,  and  we  recall 
that  word  :  "  All  this  did  Oman  as  a  kinof 
give  a  king." 


CHAPTER   II. 

A  STOR  Y  OF  THE  PAST. 

WHEN  the  year  1867  opened,  the 
Russian  drum-beat  and  the  Greek 
church-bell  woke  the  echoes  more  than  half- 
way around  the  world.  From  the  Bal- 
tic Sea,  St.  Petersburg  and  Novgorod ; 
across  the  Dnieper,  the  Volga  and  the 
Ural ;  over  the  steppes  and  the  Siberian 
wastes ;  along  the  Obe  and  the  Yenesei 
and  the  Lena  ;  down  the  peninsula  of  Kamt- 
chatka  and  beyond  Behring's  Straits  and 
Behring's  Sea ;  into  Alaska,  up  the  Yukon 
and  to  the  Mackenzie, — echoed  the  drum 
and  pealed  the  bell.  Then  Bayard  Taylor 
wrote : 

"  And  may  the  thousand  years  to  come — 
The  future  ages  wise  and  free — 
Still  see  her  flags  and  hear  her  drum 
Across  the  world  from  sea  to  sea." 

The  American  part   of  her  possessions 
Russia  ceded  to  the  United  States  in  Octo- 

29 


30  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

ber,  1867,  for  the  sum  of  seven  million  two 
hundred  thousand  dollars.  With  the  ter- 
ritory came  into  our  hands  Indian,  Creole  and 
Russian  inhabitants — of  the  last  but  few,  of 
the  first  an  aggregate  of  tribes  given  by 
the  census  of  1880  as  thirty  thousand. 
These  tribes  are  classed  by  most  writers 
under  four  divisions,  marked  by  certain 
variations  of  tongue  and  customs,  but  not 
as  indicating  a  remote  different  ancestry. 
William  H.  Seward,  after  visiting  Alaska, 
says :  "  I  have  mingled  freely  with  the  mul- 
tifarious population — the  Tongas,  the  Stick- 
eens,  the  Kakes,  the  Hydahs,  the  Sitkas, 
the  Kootnoos  and  the  Chilcats.  Climate 
and  other  circumstances  have  indeed  pro- 
duced some  differences  of  manners  and 
customs  between  the  Aleuts,  the  Kolos- 
chians  and  the  interior  continental  tribes, 
but  all  of  them  are  manifestly  of  Mongol 
origin.  Although  they  have  preserved  no 
common  traditions,=^  all  alike  indulge  in 
tastes,  wear  a  physiognomy  and  are  imbued 
with  sentiments  peculiarly  noticed  in  China 
and  Japan." 

*  They  have  Asian  or  Indo-European  traditions. 


RKU    LtUGlNS,    A    CHIKF    AT    FORT    YUKON    IN    1867. 


A   STORY  OF   THE   PAST.  33 

Ethnologists  include  under  the  term 
Mongolidae  an  immense  number  of  Asiatic, 
Polynesian  and  American  families.*  The 
original  seat  of  the  Mongolian  race  was 
Central  Asia,  and  thence,  as  water  flows 
from  the  heights  toward  the  sea,  the  sons 
of  Mongol  wandered  into  China,  Siam,  Ja- 
pan, Thibet,  Burmah,  Anam  and  other 
Asian  territories.  To  the  north  of  the 
Mongols,  and  related  to  them  originally  as 
brothers,  were  the  Ugrian  races,  which 
swept  along  the  Arctic  Circle,  across  Siberia 
and  out  upon  the  Kamtchatkan  peninsula. 
These  Ugrians — nomad  by  nature — had 
drifted  up  and  down  over  Asia  and  Europe, 
and  could  not  be  effectually  shut  up  in  Kamt- 
chatka  and  Siberia  by  a  mere  matter  of  sea- 
water.  In  frail  kyacks  or  on  floating  ice 
they  crossed  Behring's  Straits  into  Northern 
and  Central  Alaska,  and,  known  as  the 
Eskimo  tribes,  some  of  them  have  re- 
mained in  Alaska  and  others  have  moved 
along  the  northern  part  of  British  America 
and  into  Greenland.  Followine  the  Ueri- 
ans   down    into  Kamtchatka,  the  Mong-ols 

*  Latham,  in  Varieties  of  Man  ;  section  "  Mongolidae." 
3 


34  AMONG    THK   ALASKANS. 

also  followed  them  into  America.  They 
too  had  kyacks,  and  between  the  islands  of 
the  Aleutian  chain  the  distances  were  but 
short.  Possibly,  in  those  remote  ages, 
there  were  in  that  chain  other  volcanic 
islands  that  have  now  been  submerged. 
The  arrival  of  the  U^rian  Eskimos  in 
Greenland  falls  within  the  historic  period.'^' 
They  insensibly  mingled  with  their  Mon- 
golian brethren  in  Southern  Alaska  and  in 
British  Columbia,  and  this  minolinor  we 
find  in  the  Alaska  tribes  and  families.  Here, 
in  Northern  America,  these  Ugrians  and 
Mongols-}-  were  cut  off  from  other  races, 
from  the  sources  of  their  traditions  and 
from  civilization.  The  hyperborean  tribes 
are  slow  and  materialistic,  and  the  entire 
absence  of  written  character  has  greatly 
aided  in  their  mental  ciegradation ;  and 
yet  no  races  have  furnished  a  better  com- 
mentary on  the  words  of  Paul  :  "  Because 
that  which  may  be  known  of  God  is  mani- 
fest in  them  ;  for  God  showed  it  unto  them. 
P^or  the  invisible  things  of  God  from  the 

*  Prichard,  jYaiural  Hislory  of  Man,  vol.  i.  p.  222. 
I  Appendix. 


A    STORY  OF   THE   PAST.  35 

creation  of  the  world  are  clearly  seen, 
being  understood  by  the  things  which  are 
made,  even  his  eternal  power  and  God- 
head." 

If  it  were  possible  for  God  to  have  per- 
ished out  of  any  people's  consciousness,  if 
the  early  history  of  our  race  could  have 
faded  out  of  any  minds,  we  should  say 
that  these  northern  tribes  would  be  the 
ones  to  suffer  such  a  loss.  When  we  find 
an  idea  of  God,  of  human  responsibility 
and  destiny,  retained  in  these  minds,  we 
acknowledge  the  indelible  stamp  of  the 
Creator.  This  realization  of  God,  of  some 
infinite  power  in  him  and  of  an  infinite  in- 
dignation against  them  for  their  wicked- 
ness, is  remarkably  present  in  the  minds 
of  the  Alaskan  tribes.  "  The  bad  that  is  in 
them  "  haunts  them  terribly,  and  they  take 
most  extraordinary  and  painful  means  "  to 
get  the  bad  out."  That  death  is  in  some 
mysterious  fashion  the  punishment  and  the 
cure  of  sin  they  also  feel  assured. 

Ignorant  and  degraded  as  they  are,  they 
yet  have  rude  traces  of  that  artistic  spirit 
common  to  all  the  Japhetic  people.     With 


36  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

the  most  wretched  tools  they  achieve  elab- 
orate carvings  on  their  totems,  on  knife-  and 
spoon-handles  and  on  little  images,  and  no 
one  who  has  studied  the  carvings  of  Mon- 
gol races — as  those  of  Siam  and  China — 
will  fail  to  notice  a  remarkable  similarity 
of  idea  and  treatment  between  them  and 
the  Alaskan  specimens. 

Having  entered  Alaska,  the  Ugrian  and 
the  Mongolian  tribes  required  space  for 
subsistence  and  room  for  their  nomadic 
methods  of  life,  and,  being  unrestrained 
by  religion,  law  or  civilization,  fierce  jeal- 
ousies broke  out  between  them.  Murders, 
cruelties,  oppressions,  deathless  hates,  were 
rampant,  and  from  such  causes  they  became 
divided  into  so  many  distinct  and  generally 
hostile  tribes  and  families.  As  there  was 
constant  warfare  and  ever-fresh  cause  of 
enmity  and  ever-recurring  reprisals,  there 
was  no  confederation  nor  permanent  alli- 
ance among  these  people.  The  country 
therefore  remained  a  wilderness.  Berries 
and  dried  fruits,  dried  flesh  and  fish,  af- 
forded the  people  sustenance ;  their  dwell- 
ings were   of   the    rudest;    they  prepared 


A    STORY  OF   THE  PAST.  37 

skins  for  clothing,  made  tools  of  stones  and 
bones,  were  hunters  and  fishers.  There 
was  no  nationality,  no  improvement.  They 
could  say  of  their  home  : 

"  So  far  I  live  to  the  northward, 
No  man  lives  north  of  me; 
To  the  east  are  wild  mountain- chains, 
And  beyond  them  meres  and  plains; 
To  the  westward  all  is  sea  ;" 

and  they  were  lost  out  of  the  interests  of 
the  nations. 

Among  the  wandering  tribes  of  Siberia 
traditions  of  the  departure  of  the  parents 
of  the  Alaskans  yet  linger.  They  say  that 
ages  ago  their  ancestors,  finding  the  sea 
filled  with  solid  ice,  drove  vast  herds  of 
reindeer  before  them  and  went  far  to  the 
north-east,  to  a  land  whence  they  have 
never  returned.  Among  the  families  that 
remained  upon  the  Aleutian  islands  are 
found  cave-dwellers,  as  notably  on  King's 
Island,  with  homes  and  habits  similar  to 
those  of  the  ancient  Cave-Dwellers  in  Cen- 
tral and  Western  Europe. 

The  first  contact  of  Russia  with  Alaska 
came  throuo-h  the  fur-trade.     Out  of  Siberia 


38  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

and  Kamtchatka  the  Russians  moved  to  the 
Aleutian  islands,  and  finally  to  Alaska. 
The  first  traders,  or  promishleniks,  were 
men  of  the  lowest  character  and  the  gross- 
est ignorance.  Their  vessels  were  of  the 
rudest  sort,  and  their  conduct  toward  the 
natives  produced  war  and  hate.  When, 
in  1766,  servants  of  the  Russian  govern- 
ment entered  the  place  occupied  by  the 
promishleniks,  outrages  on  all  humanity 
characterized  their  procedure.  Their  prov- 
erb was,  "  Heaven  is  high  ;  the  czar  is 
distant."  The  Aleuts  did  not  pay  tribute 
to  Russia  until  1779.  In  1783,  Baranoff, 
who  had  been  a  common  sailor,  but  who 
was  also  a  man  of  great  energy,  was  made 
governor  of  all  Russian  possessions  in 
America.  His  course  was  marked  by 
rapine  and  bloodshed,  antagonizing  all 
efforts  for  the  improvement  of  the  natives. 
In  1  793,  when  the  empress  Catherine  com- 
manded Greek  Church  missionaries  to  go 
to  Alaska  to  instruct  the  natives  in  religion, 
she  also  ordered  convicts  to  be  shipped 
from  Siberia  to  teach  theni  agriculture. 
News    of    the    unscrupulous    conduct    and 


A    STORY  OF   THE   PAST.  39 

abuses  of  power  of  Baranoff  moved  the 
Russian  government,  in  1804,  to  send 
Resanoff,  a  wise  and  good  man,  to  redress 
grievances.  Resanoff  died  in  1807,  and 
Baranoff  lost  no  time  in  reverting  to  his 
former  wrong-doings.  In  1824  and  1827 
conventions  were  signed,  first  between  the 
United  States  and  Russia,  setding  the  boun- 
daries of  Russian  America  and  the  rights 
of  the  waters,  and  then  between  England 
and  the  United  States,  leaving  territory 
west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  open  to  all 
parties  for  ten  years.  The  Russians  now 
built  forts,  sent  more  setders  and  released 
the  Aleuts  from  the  payment  of  taxes,  but 
forced  them  to  trade  entirely  with  Russian 
companies  ;  and  they  also  explored,  to  some 
extent,  the  Alaskan  mainland.  We  are 
told  that  "  the  Aleuts  were  subject  to  the 
most  horrible  outrages ;  they  were  treated 
as  beasts  rather  than  as  men.  An  Aleut's 
life  was  of  no  value." 

In  fact,  in  the  nine  years  between  the 
years  1799  and  1808  they  were  reduced 
in  number  nearly  one-half,  and  between 
the   years    1808   and    1870   to  one-fifth   of 


40  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

that  remaining  half,  "  They  were  utterly 
crushed  by  the  early  traders." 

In  1859  the  Russian  government  made 
another  effort  to  right  wrongs  and  relieve 
the  natives  from  the  oppressions  of  the 
traders.  Schools  for  boys  and  girls  were 
established.  Three  hospitals  were  opened, 
and  an  asylum  for  the  old  and  the  poor  was 
established.  But  the  advantages  of  all 
these  institutions  were  coolly  reserved  by 
the  white  people  for  themselves  and  their 
Creole  families.  An  effort  was  also  made 
by  the  imperial  government  to  stop  the  sale 
of  liquor,  and,  in  1862,  Russia  refused  to 
renew  to  the  fur  company  the  charter  which 
had  been  so  greatly  abused. 

Persecuted  and  destroyed  on  every  hand, 
denied  all  comfort  and  eaten  up  by  disease, 
the  natives,  as  Veniaminoff  says,  were 
seized  with  a  "great  hunger  for  the  word 
of  God  "  and  a  desire  to  find  the  way  to 
heaven.  But  we  will  give  some  fuller  sketch 
of  the  progress  of  Russian  missions. 

On  June  30,  1793  the  empress  Catherine 
of  Russia  had  issued  an  order  that  mission- 
aries   should   be    sent    to    her   colonies   in 


A   STORY  OF  THE  PAST.  4 1 

America.  The  first  teachers  of  the  Greek 
Church  who  expatriated  themselves  in  obe- 
dience to  this  command  were  eleven  monks, 
under  the  leadership  of  Joasaph,  an  elder  in 
the  Augustinian  order  of  the  Russian  State- 
Church.  In  1796,  Joasaph  was  made  a  bish- 
op, and,  returning  to  Russia  for  consecra- 
tion, secured  funds  for  building  a  church, 
which  was  erected  the  same  year,  in  Kadiac. 
Kadiac  was  for  many  years  the  headquar- 
ters of  the  Greek  Church  in  Alaska. 

This  island  of  Kacliak  lies  off  Cook's  In- 
let, and  here,  in  1792,  a  year  and  more  be- 
fore the  arrival  of  the  Greek  missionaries, 
a  school  had  been  established  for  Indian 
and  Creole  children  and  for  the  few  Rus- 
sian youth  belonging  to  the  families  of  the 
employes  of  the  Russian  fur  company. 
About  1799  a  school  of  the  same  kind  was 
established  at  Sitka,  then  called  New  Arch- 
angel. Instruction  was  given  in  the  Rus- 
sian language,  in  arithmetic  and  in  religion 
as  held  by  the  Greek  Church. 

In  1 799,  Bishop  Joasaph  and  his  mission- 
aries, starting  on-  a  voyage  of  visitation  to 
the  scattered  villages  along  the  coast  and 


42  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

over  the  islands,  were  overwhelmed  in  a 
winter  storm,  shipwrecked  and  drowned ; 
only  one  missionary  remained  alive.  For 
eleven  years  this  lonely  monk  remained  in 
the  Russian  colonies,  holding  his  post  with 
a  persistency  that  has  in  it  much  of  the  he- 
roic. We  can  imagine  his  solitary  journey, 
his  burial  of  the  dead.  As  he  stands  by 
the  open  graves  a  wonder  creeps  into  his 
mind  whether  he  shall  die  here  and  be  laid 
in  the  earth  without  ceremony  or  prayer. 
He  preaches  in  the  church  at  Kadiak  ;  he 
goes  on  preaching  missions  to  other  places, 
passing  over  the  way  where  his  brethren 
perished ;  he  teaches  in  the  school ;  he 
baptizes  the  infants.  Russia  and  his  Church 
have  forgotten  him.  The  summer  of  1809 
is  closing  ;  another  winter  of  his  solitude 
is  upon  him.  He  stands  in  the  harbor  of 
St.  Paul,  sharing  the  intense  eagerness  of 
all  about  him  at  the  sight  of  a  Russian  ves- 
sel approaching  the  little  town.  There 
will  be  news  from  home  !  But  now,  among 
the  throng  of  servants  of  the  fur  company, 
of  sailors  and  traders,  behold  a  gowned 
ecclesiastic.     Helj)  has  come  to  him  at  last. 


A    SrOKY   OF   THE   PAST.  45 

The  work  of  establishing  schools  and 
churches,  as  carried  on  by  two  men,  was 
slow.  The  Alaskans  were  found  eager  to 
learn,  quick  in  acquiring,  ready  to  accept 
the  forms  of  the  Greek  faith.  Only  those 
who  resided  permanently  near  the  stations 
of  the  fur  company  received  any  instruc- 
tion :  there  was  no  seekinor  out  of  the 
tribes  of  the  interior. 

Meanwhile,  the  entire  native  population 
received  evil  from  the  white  men ;  vices 
spread  among  them,  if  enlightenment  did 
not.  To  the  cruelties  of  their  natural  bar- 
barism were  added  the  immoralities  fostered 
by  their  new  masters,  and  the  dark  races 
began  slowly  to  melt  away,  devoured  by 
their  own  sins. 

In  December,  1822,  three  more  priests 
arrived  from  Russia,  sent  by  the  govern- 
ment ;  but  they  seemed  to  be  men  with 
little  faith  in  what  they  taught  and  with 
little  zeal  for  souls. 

In  1823  a  truly  missionary  spirit  arrived 
in  Russian  America.  Innocentius  Veniami- 
noff  began  his  labors  in  Unalashka.  Pure 
in    life,  enlightened  in  belief,  greatly  desi- 


46  AMONG    THK  ALASKANS. 

rolls  of  spreading"  the  gospel,  a  man  of 
ability  and  wisdom,  Veniaminoff  was  really 
the  founder  of  the  Greek  Church  in  Alaska. 
Funds  for  the  work  were  not  lacking-.  Be- 
side what  the  Greek  Church  did  pecuni- 
arily for  their  missions  in  Alaska,  all  that 
the  Presbyterian  Church  has  contributed 
sinks  into  insignificance. 

Some  of  our  people  thought  that  we 
"  were  doing  too  much  for  Alaska  "  when 
seven  thousand  six  hundred  dollars  were 
spent  in  building  the  McFarland  Home ; 
when  ten  thousand  dollars  were  asked  for 
four  stations,  and  "hundreds  of  packages 
were  sent  annually"  to  our  workers  in 
that  field.  Compare  with  this  the  money 
given  there  by  Russia.  The  Russian  fur 
company  were  taxed  six  thousand  six  hun- 
dred dollars  yearly  for  missions  ;  the  Greek 
Church  mission  fund  gave  two  thousand 
three  hundred  and  thirteen  dollars  and 
seventy-five  cents  annually  to  the  same 
cause;  eleven  hundred  dollars  came  from 
the  candle-tax ;  and  private  individuals 
gave  so  liberally  that  a  surplus  accumu- 
lated to  the  amount  of  thirty-seven  thou- 


A    STONY   OF    THE    PAST.  4/ 

sand  five  hundred  dollars,  which  was  loaned 
at  five  per  cent.,  the  interest  being  used  on 
the  field. 

Veniamlnoff  was  made  bishop  in  1840; 
in  1 841  he  established  an  ecclesiastical 
school  at  Sitka,  and  in  1845  hirther  en- 
larged and  endowed  this  school,  so  that  it 
was  raised  to  the  rank  of  a  Greek  church- 
seminary. 

The  work  of  the  Greek  Church  in  Alas- 
ka increased  under  Veniaminoff  until  it 
had  seven  missionary  districts,  with  eleven 
priests  and  sixteen  deacons,  with  a  propor- 
tionate number  of  schools;  and  in  1869  it 
claimed  over  twelve  thousand  baptized 
members. 

Veniaminoff  received  the  due  reward  of 
wisdom  and  zeal :  he  was  advanced  from 
one  high  station  in  his  Church  to  another. 
Alaska  lost  him  when  he  was  made  Metro- 
politan of  Moscow,  but  his  interest  in  the  wel- 
fare of  the  American  colony  did  not  cease. 

If  the  schools  in  Alaska  had  been  effect- 
ive in  proportion  to  their  number,  some 
good  might  have  been  accomplished  by 
them.     Little,  however,  was  tautrht  but  the 


48  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

rites  of  the  Greek  Church  and  the  Russian 
language.  The  attendance  of  Indians  was 
not  encouraged  ;  whites  and  half-breeds 
made  up  the  hst  of  pupils. 

As  Finns,  Swedes  and  Germans  were 
employed  in  Alaska  by  the  Russian  fur 
company,  a  Lutheran  missionary  was  sent 
in  1845  to  preach  to  members  of  the 
Lutheran  Church;  he  was  maintained  by 
the  Russian  government.  In  1852  this 
missionary  was  succeeded  by  Mr.  Wintec, 
who  remained  until  the  purchase,  when 
Russia  withdrew  his  support.  These  min- 
isters were  commissioned  in  the  interests 
of  members  of  their  own  Church,  spoke 
only  German  and  Swedish,  and,  being  ig- 
norant of  the  Indian  dialects,  made  no 
impression  on  the  natives  and  did  not 
undertake  evangrelistic  work  amono-  them 
In  i860  a  colonial  school  ^as  opened; 
in  1862,  out  of  its  twenty-seven  students, 
only  one  was  a  native. 

Veniaminoff  had  in  1825  established 
at  Unalashka  his  first  station,  a  school 
for  natives,  and  by  i860  it  had  seventy- 
three     pupils,     the    girls    preponderating. 


A    STORY   OF   THE   PAST.  49 

A  school  for  natives  on  Amlie  Island  had 
thirty  pupils.  No  effort  was  made  to  civ- 
ilize the  natives,  to  establish  them  in  vil- 
lages, to  Christianize  them,  to  teach  them 
agriculture  or  the  arts  of  domestic  life, 
but  Russia  gave  them  laws,  schools  and 
Greek  churches.  They  were  not  urged 
to  enjoy  any  of  these  privileges,  but  they 
were  open  to  them. 

A  territory  so  distant  from  the  home- 
country  as  was  Alaska  from  Russia  was 
rather  a  drain  upon  the  national  purse 
than  a  source  of  profit.  Setders  and 
soldiers  were  sent  so  far  away  to  little 
purpose,  and  in  time  of  war  the  colony 
might  be  a  positive  disadvantage.  Rus- 
sia and  England  have  never  harmonized 
in  policy.  The  Great  Bear  of  the  North 
and  the  Lion  of  Enorland  delight  in  a 
mutual  display  of  teeth  and  claws.  Rus- 
sian America,  lying  close  upon  British 
America,  would,  in  the  event  of  war,  be 
open  to  English  occupation,  and  to  protect 
it  demanded  a  diversion  of  forces,  the  send- 
ing of  ships,  men,  stores  and  arms  for  im- 
mense distances,  the  defence  beinor  rather 

o 
4 


50  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

an  affair  of  national  pride  than  for  the  pro- 
tection of  a  land  of  which  Russia  could 
utilize  the  resources.  These  were  amonor 
the  reasons  which  urged  Russia  to  divest 
herself  of  a  territory  that  Secretary  Sew- 
ard was  eager  to  acquire  for  the  United 
States. 

In  1867  this  purchase  was  completed. 
The  flag  of  Russia  was  hauled  down,  and 
the  Stars  and  Stripes  floated  in  its  place ; 
Russian  America  was  renamed  by  its  In- 
dian title,  Alaska — Al-ak-shak,  "  the  great 
land,"  New  Archangel  took  its  native 
name  of  Sitka,  and  two  little  islands  were 
leased  to  the  "Alaska  Commercial  Compa- 
ny "  at  a  rental  sufficient  to  pay  the  inter- 
est on  the  purchase-money  of  the  entire 
territory. 

When  Alaska  was  delivered  to  the  Unit- 
ed States,  the  Russian  schools  and  churches 
were  for  the  most  part  closed ;  the  Russians, 
with  other  Europeans  who  had  been  in  the 
employ  of  the  fur  company,  returned  to 
Europe ;  the  Lutheran  minister  retired 
with  his  flock.  A  few  United  States  sol- 
diers were   placed  in   the  former  Russian 


A    STOKY   OF   THE    PAST.  51 

forts  ;  the  employes  of  the  Alaska  Com- 
mercial Company  began  their  work ;  the 
newspapers  exhausted  their  sarcasm  and 
condemnation ;  the  Church  seemed  not 
to  think  of  Alaska  as  a  part  of  "  all  the 
world  "  covered  by  her  divine  commission, 
saw  not  the  thirty  thousand  dusky  forms 
marching  down  on  death,  heard  no  wail : 
"We  go  down  in  the  dark  !"  The  land 
was  left  without  law,  government,  teach- 
ers, preachers,   schools  or  charities. 


CHAPTER   III. 

A    N£iy    V/Eir  OF  AMERICAN   CITIZENS. 

WHEN  the  United  States  purchased 
Alaska,  thirty  thousand  human  be- 
ings and  very  nearl)'  six  hundred  thousand 
square  miles  of  territory  were  acquired. 
Our  new  citizens,  then,  cost  two  hundred 
and  forty  dollars  per  head,  and  each  one 
came  dowered  with  over  twelve  thousand 
acres  of  land.  It  is  true  that  there  was 
much  of  snow-buried,  bare-rock,  desolate 
land  in  the  new  country,  reaching-  as  it 
did  far  away  into  those  Arctic  regions  where 
the  white  bear  finds  his  home,  but  it  is  also 
true  that  not  often  are  farms  of  twelve  thou- 
sand acres  found  without  waste-lands.  Such 
was  the  cost  of  our  new  population  ;  such 
was  their  heritage.  We  would  now  inquire 
into  the  character  and  the  quality  of  the 
individuals,  and  the  value,  the  prospects 
and  the  possibilities  of  their  inheritance. 


A   NEW  VIE IV.  55 

First,  then,  as   to   the  character,  the  cus- 
toms and  the  beliefs  of  the  Alaskan  tribes. 

The    Russians,   after   an    occupation    of 
Alaska  for  over  one   hundred    years,   had 
left  the   natives  very  much   as  they  found 
them.     Those  near  the  coast  and  the  trad- 
ing-stations had  to  a  certain  extent  learned 
to  wear  white  men's  clothing ;  they  had  ac- 
quired ideas  of  trade  and   of  money.      A 
few  had  been  taught  the  Russian  and  the 
German  language,  had  learned  to  read  and 
had   received  some  vague   notions  of   the 
rites  of  the  Greek  Church  ;   but  the  mass 
of  the   people,   the   tribes   of    the   interior, 
were   in   the  same  condition  of  barbarism 
as  before  the  Russians  entered  their  coun- 
try.    The  Aleuts,  or  Indians  of  the  islands, 
had  the  closest  association  with   the   Rus- 
sians,   assumed     their     customs,     clothing, 
language  and  belief.      By  marriage  they  se- 
cured such  an  admixture  of  Russian  blood 
and  so  many  creole  children   that  the  na- 
tive characteristics  nearly  disappeared,  while 
physical   traits    remained.       This   intermin- 
gling   of   races   had   its    usual    effect,    and 
the  less  civilized  melted  away  :   the  Aleuts, 


56  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

from  twenty  thousand,  diminished  to  four 
thousand.'^ 

The  Alaskan  Indians  are,  in  general, 
well  and  strongly  made,  capable  of  great 
physical  endurance,  healthy,  long-lived, 
hardy  hunters  and  fishers,  bold,  warlike. 
The  ratio  of  births  is  greater  than  in  civil- 
ized communities,  but  the  death-rate  among 
children  is  excessive,  as  the  mothers  are 
extremely  ignorant  in  regard  to  nursing 
and  rearing  their  little  ones.  A  surgeon 
of  the  United  States  marine  revenue  ser- 
vice reports  that  where  white  settlers  or 
missionary  teachers  had  succeeded  in  per- 
suading the  natives  to  live  in  cleanliness, 
to  ventilate  their  dwellings  and  keep  them 
properly  warmed,  to  cook  their  food  and 
use  a  sufficient  change  of  clothing,  almost 
no  medical  service  was  needed,  and  "  the 
condition  of  the  habitations  and  people  and 
freedom  from  sickness  furnished  a  striking 
illustration  of  the  advantage  of  living  under 
good  sanitary  conditions." 

By  three  fatal  gifts  tlie  white  man  has 

*  Surgeon  Robeil  White,  United  States  navy  :  Cruise  of  United 
States  Steamer  Rush  in  Alaskan  Waters. 


A   NEW   VIEW.  57 

decimated  die  population  of  Alaska — by  im- 
purity, by  whisky,  by  the  small-pox.  The 
original  diseases  of  the  people  were  due 
chiefly  to  the  influence  of  the  climate  on 
races  who  did  not  understand  how  to  pro- 
tect themselves  with  clothing  and  shelter 
from  cold  or  dampness.  Catarrhal,  pulmo- 
nary and  rheumatic  affecUons  were  the  most 
common  forms  of  sickness.  Vice  has  in- 
troduced a  long  line  of  more  fatal  dis- 
orders, has  spread  epilepsy  and  scrofula, 
and,  as  says  a  surgical  report,  has  "  rendered 
the  people  especially  prone  to  the  engraft- 
ino-  of  strumous  affecUons  and  to  succumb 
to  attacks  of  acute  disease." 

The  Americans,  not  deterred  by  the  dire- 
ful physical  effect  which  Russian  associadon 
had  bestowed  on  an  ignorant  and  helpless 
race,  no  sooner  entered  the  country  than 
they  taught  the  Indians  to  distill  liquor, 
and  now  intemperance  with  its  long  train 
of  diseases  is  reducing  the  tribes.  During 
fifty  years  small-pox  has  at  intervals  pre- 
vailed epidemically,  and  has  caused  great 
mortality,  as  no  one  has  been  interested 
to  protect  Indians  by  vaccination. 


58  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

Let  US  now  look  at  the  manner  of  life  of 
these  people.  We  need  no  longer  expect 
to  find,  along  the  south  coast,  Alaskans 
livine  like  Greenlanders  in  houses  of  snow 
and  ice.  Their  warm  climate  forbids  such 
forlorn  habitations,  but  provides  abundant 
lumber  for  dwellings.  On  the  islands  cave- 
dwellincrs  and  half-subterranean  houses  are 
found.  On  the  mainland  the  abodes  are 
all  of  one  general  type :  a  wooden  plat- 
form upholds  a  large  house  of  hewn  planks 
set  on  end.  The  houses  are  from  forty  to 
fifty  feet  square.  The  fire  is  in  the  centre  ; 
the  smoke  fills  the  room,  and  finally  escapes 
by  a  large  opening  in  the  roof.  The  whole 
family — sometimes  thirty  persons — may  be 
found  in  this  one- roomed  house.  The  smoke 
occasions  eye-troubles  ;  the  close  air  breeds 
fevers  and  skin-diseases  ;  the  promiscuous 
crowding  forbids  all  decency  of  domestic  life. 
Outside  of  the  large  houses  are  small  dark, 
half-built  huts,  where  women  are  shut  up  to 
care  for  themselves  in  sickness,  when  they 
need  the  tendercst  attention,  and  young 
girls  are  kept  as  prisoners  for  six:  months 
or  two  years  at  a  time.      Before  the  houses 


KT    WRANGELL. 


A    NEW   VIEW.  6 1 

are  erected  huge  carved  poles  or  tree- 
trunks  bearing  the  totems  of  the  inhabit- 
ants. The  son  takes  the  family  tote7n,  or 
animal  emblem,  of  his  mother,  and  the  suc- 
cession of  these  totem-carvings  indicates 
the  genealogy  of  the  owner  of  the  house. 

The  Indians  now  purchase  clothing  and 
heavy  goods  from  the  white  traders,  but 
garments  of  dressed  deer-  and  bear-skins, 
2Lndpa?'ki,  or  gowns  of  bird-skins  with  the 
feathers  on,  are  much  used.  Blankets  in 
brig-ht  or  dark  colors  are  favorite  articles 
of  trade  and  dress.  The  Alaskan  women 
are  often  skillful  in  dressing,  sewing  and 
embroidering  deer -skin  garments;  the 
tough  fibres  of  a  long  grass,  dyed  and 
split,  are  much  used  for  the  latter  work. 

Domestic  utensils  and  comforts  are  few : 
blankets,  beds  of  skins,  matting  woven  of 
coarse  grass  for  screens,  beds  and  wall- 
linings,  baskets  so  closely  woven  of  tough 
grass  or  the  inner  bark  of  the  cedar  that 
they  will  hold  water,  and  in  which  meat 
is  boiled  by  dropping  into  the  baskets  of 
water  red-hot  stones,  dishes  made  of  woven 
grass, — these  are  some  of  the  native  manu- 


62  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

factures.  They  also  make  weapons,  tools, 
ladles,  forks,  knives  and  spoons  from  stone, 
bone  and  horn,  and  these  articles  are  fre- 
quently elaborately  carved.  Little  boxes, 
needle-cases,  combs,  masks  and  ornaments 
are  among  their  native-made  treasures  ;  mit- 
tens, hoods,  leggins,  shoes  and  moccasins 
are  admirably  made  of  seal-skin.  Prob- 
ably no  race  makes  better  canoes  than 
the  Alaskan. 

For  food  there  is  an  abundance  of  fish, 
flesh,  fowl  and  small  fruits.  The  seas  and 
rivers  swarm  with  all  sorts  of  delicious 
fish;  the  woods  are  full  of  deer;  the  un- 
dergrowth provides  millions  of  bushels  of 
berries ;  the  coast  is  covered  with  edible 
algae  of  admirable  medicinal  qualities ; 
aquatic  and  forest  birds  abound.  During 
the  summer  the  Indians  are  constantly  en- 
gaged in  picking  and  drying  berries,  fish- 
ing and  drying  fish,  hunting  and  drying 
meats  and  birds,  packing  and  pressing  al- 
gae into  esculent  cakes  and  drying  small  fat 
fish  for  candles.  The  oulikon  fish,  which 
abound  in  the  Stickeen  and  Nasse  Rivers, 
afford  oil  for  fuel,  lights  and  medicinal  use, 


A    NEW   r/EPf^.  63 

and  the  fat,  of  a  bland  taste  and  capable  of 
being  long  preserved,  is  a  chief  article  of 
diet. 

Thus  we  have  briefly  our  new  citizen's 
home,  food  and  clothing.  What  is  the 
course  of  his  daily  life  ?  When  he  is  born, 
he  is  washed,  well  rubbed  with  grease,  and 
then  tighdy  rolled  up  in  a  skin  or  blanket 
padded  with  grass ;  his  limbs  are  thus 
closely  confined,  and  the  bundle  is  unfast- 
ened but  once  a  day,  when  the  grass  pad- 
dino-  is  chanoed.  If  he  cries  too  loudly  or 
too  loner  his  head  is  held  under  water  to 
teach  him  to  be  still.  If  the  babe  is  a  boy 
and  has  a  curly  lock  on  his  head,  he  is  des- 
tined to  be  a  sJiaman  or  doctor  ;  if  he  has 
any  resemblance  or  mark  of  an  ancestor 
who  is  dead,  he  is  supposed  to  be  that  per- 
son returned,  and  gets  his  name. 

Children  are  sometimes  put  to  death  be- 
cause the  parents  think  they  are  too  nu- 
merous. This  happens  more  frequently  in 
the  case  of  girls  than  of  boys.  The  infant 
is  carried  out  into  the  woods,  its  mouth  is 
filled  with  grass  to  sdfle  it,  and  it  is  left  to 
perish.     In  view  of  her  own  life  of  degra- 


64  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

dation,  misery,  abuse,  her  despised  condi- 
tion, often  violent  death  and  horrible  denial 
of  burial,  it  cannot  be  wondered  at  when 
the  Alaskan  mother  on  the  upper  Yukon 
believes  death  more  merciful  than  life  to 
her  daughter.  Indeed,  if  the  girl  must 
come  to  a  fate  similar  to  that  of  the  mother, 
infanticide  is  the  greatest  kindness.  And 
only  the  beneficent  entrance  of  the  gospel 
can  make  the  life  of  an  Alaskan  woman 
such  that  it  shall  be  well  for  her  to  cherish 
the  existence  of  her  baby-girl. 

The  infant  who  is  allowed  to  live,  being 
rolled  up  in  its  grass  and  skin  padding, 
gets  very  little  care  during  the  first  year 
of  its  life.  The  child  is  not  kept  clean  ; 
its  mother  often  indulges  in  gluttony  and 
drunkenness,  so  that  she  is  unfit  to  nurse  it, 
and  consequently  a  great  many  little  ones 
perish  in  their  first  year.  Unswathed  at 
last  and  allowed  to  shift  for  itself,  fed  liber- 
ally on  crude  food,  seal- fat,  dried  meat  and 
dried  fruit,  and  exposed  to  the  inclemency 
of  the  weather,  many  children  die  of  colds 
or  stomachic  diseases  before  they  are  five 
years  old. 


A   NEW   VIEW.  65 

At  about  this  age  the  children,  both  boys 
and  girls,  are  taught  to  catch  and  clean  fish 
or  spend  weeks  in  summer  gathering  ber- 
ries. As  they  grow  older  they  learn  the 
simple  arts  of  their  race — to  make  houses, 
canoes,  clothing  and  carving.  At  ten  or 
twelve  years  of  age  the  Alaskan  girl  is 
shut  up  in  a  perfectly  dark  and  fireless  hut 
so  small  that  she  cannot  stand  erect  in  it. 
Here  she  remains  from  three  months  to 
two  years,  seeing  no  one,  no  one  ap- 
proaching her  but  her  mother,  who  brings 
her  food,  and  may  possibly  take  her  out  in 
the  darkness  of  night  if  she  is  carefully 
wrapped  in  blankets.  If  the  girl  survives 
this  horrible  probation,  she  is  brought  out, 
given  new  clothes,  has  a  metal  pin  driven 
through  her  under  lip,  her  face  and  neck 
tatooed  and  a  feast  is  given.  If  she  is 
very  pale  and  frail  from  her  long  seclusion, 
and  if  she  marries  Immediately,  the  end  of 
her  existence  is  supposed  to  be  attained. 

When  an  Alaskan  is  sick,  he  calls  for  the 

shaman,  or  doctor,  who  is  believed   to   be 

possessed   with    the    devil,    and    therefore 

very  wise.     The  shaman  demands  gifts  and 

5 


66  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

then  more  gifts,  and  yet  more,  until  he 
has  exhausted  the  resources  of  his  patient. 
He  then  declares  the  cause  of  the  illness 
to  be  witchcraft,  and  after  howls,  dances 
and  mad  uproar  points  out  some  poor 
family,  some  defenceless  woman,  some 
aged  person  or  little  child,  as  the  one  in 
whom  the  spirit  of  the  witch  is  supposed 
to  be  lodged.  Once  accused,  the  unhappy 
victims  are  seized,  tortured,  beaten,  starved, 
burnt,  until  they  confess  or  die — or  more 
often  confess  and  die. 

To  become  a  shaman,  iht  or  medicine- 
man, the  Alaskan  boy  passes  through  much 
such  a  probation  as  his  sister  undergoes 
for  no  object  at  all.  The  youth  is  shut  up 
in  a  hut  and  starved,  exposed  to  privations 
and  tortures,  wrought  up  to  frenzies  which 
must  result  in  a  species  of  epilepsy,  if  he  is 
to  be  a  proper  iht.  He  is  then  fed  on  raw 
dog  and  human  flesh,  and  at  last  becomes 
one  of  the  favored  order  of  shamans — an 
arbiter  to  his  people,  an  incarnate  demon 
whom  no  one  dares  dispute,  a  vampire 
living  on  the  very  life-blood  of  his  tribe, 
their  terror  in  health,  their  master  in  dis- 


A    NEW   VIEW.  67 

ease,  the  disposer  of  their  souls  and  of 
their  bodies  when  they  are  dead.  There  is 
a  strong  similarity  between  the  shamanism 
of  Alaska  and  the  fetichism  of  Africa. 

We  make  a  few  notes  concerning  the  re- 
ligious belief  of  the  Tlinkets. 

Religious  traditions  are  orally  preserved 
with  great  care  by  the  Alaskan  Indians, 
and  the  main  myths  are  invariable  from 
age  to  age.  To  these  have  been  added 
other  legends  and  episodes,  arising  from  a 
desire  to  deify  after  his  death  some  favorite 
chief,  or  to  celebrate  certain  localities  in 
their  territory,  or  as  the  Hits  have  taken 
pride  in  inventing  new  tales  and  having 
them  embodied  in  song  by  local  bards. 
Each  tribe  had  one  family  set  apart  to 
learn  and  rehearse  the  mythology,  and  at 
all  gatherings,  great  or  small,  some  part 
of  it  was  recited.  The  Tlinkets  believe  in 
a  personal  god,  eternal,  self-existing,  imma- 
terial, infinite  in  power  and  wisdom.  This 
god  they  think  exists  in  two  persons — first, 
the  judge,  rewarder  or  chastiser  of  souls,  ac- 
cording to  their  deeds.  This  person  had 
but  one  visible   manifestation,   as   a  white 


68  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

bird.  The  second  person  of  this  one  god 
is  the  preserver,  providence,  sustaining  all 
things,  aiding  those  who  cry  to  him,  feed- 
ing man  and  beast.  To  this  ancient,  orig- 
inal belief  in  one  god  the  Tlinkets  have 
added  recognition  of  a  group  of  demigods 
gross  and  grotesque.  These  gods  control 
especial  forces  of  nature. 

In  some  minds  the  one  great  god  is  ethe- 
realized  into  an  essence,  3.  pervading  influ- 
ence, a  grand  bodiless  Paji,  inspiring  all 
nature,  but  the  lesser  gods  are  coarse, 
cunning,  cruel,  animal.  Of  these  gods  the 
tide-spirit  was  first.  Yeatt,  the  crow,  has  a 
strong  likeness  to  Lo/ci  of  the  Scandinavian 
myths.  The  misconduct  of  Yeatt  caused 
the  tide-god  once  to  rise  and  drown  the 
world,  sweeping  sea-shells  to  mountain- 
tops,  where  they  lie  to  this  day.  Yeatt 
made  man  out  of  vioss  and  earth — out  of 
moss,  to  give  him  reproductive  power ;  of 
earth,  that  he  might  be  perishable.  He 
eave  men  fire  and  taught  them  arts.  The 
tide-god  sent  a  flood  to  drown  all  men,  and 
Yeatt  put  them  in  a  canoe  and  towed  them 
to  a  high  mountain. 


A   NEW   VIEW.  71 

None  of  these  lesser  gods  are  objects 
of  worship.  Demons  and  witches  are  also 
believed  to  exist,  having  knowledge  of 
the  future  and  malign  power  over  men. 

Such  being  the  life  of  the  Alaskan,  what 
is  the  manner  of  his  death  ?  With  little 
skill  in  medicine  or  surgery  and  no  knowl- 
edge of  nursing,  he  falls  a  ready  prey  to 
physical  disasters.  The  "  shaman  "  haunts 
his  closing  hours  and  arbitrates  the  disposal 
of  his  body.  The  iht,  having  performed  his 
incantations,  reveals  that  the  man  will  die. 
His  gathered  relatives  surround  him  until 
the  last  breath  is  drawn,  and  then  break 
into  loud  songs  to  waft  the  soul  to  spiritual 
habitations.  Among  some  tribes  the  body 
is  doubled  up,  wrapped  in  skins  and  placed 
in  a  canoe  hung  on  poles,  where  it  remains 
until  body  and  burial-place  alike  crumble 
into  ruin. 

Cremation  is,  however,  a  favorite  meth- 
od of  disposing  of  a  corpse.  A  pile  of 
logs  is  made  ;  the  body,  wrapped  in  mats 
or  skins  and  covered  with  resinous  wood, 
is  placed  on  the  pyre,  and,  the  heap  being 
set  on  fire,  in  about  two  hours  the  whole  is 


72  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

reduced  to  ashes.  The  ashes  of  the  body 
and  the  few  bones  that  may  remain  are  put 
in  boxes  and  placed  in  a  hut.  Slaves  when 
they  die  are  flung-  into  the  sea  to  feed  fishes 
or  left  in  the  woods  for  birds  and  wild 
beasts  to  devour. 

Among-  the  Southern  Alaskans  cremation 
is  universal,* 

Among  the  Kaviaks  and  their  kindred 
tribes  polygamy  is  common.  Among  the 
Nehennes  and  Talcolins  widows  are  com- 
pelled to  burn  themselves  at  the  funeral 
pile  of  their  husbands,  though  they  are  not 
burned  to  death. 

Slavery  exists  in  most  of  the  tribes. 

Murders  and  malicious  injuries  are  to 
be  atoned  for  by  lives  from  the  offending 
family,  in  number  proportioned  to  the  so- 
cial importance  of  the  injured  party. 

The  Alaskan  does  not  forget  his  kindred 
after  the  hour  of  their  death.  The  heathen 
seldom  fall  to  a  state  of  mental  degrada- 
tion which  denies  the  existence  of  angel 
and  spirit — of  a  world  to  come,  of  future 

*  Of   this   matter  of    burial    we   will    speak    more    fully   in  a 
chapter  yet  to  come. 


A   NEW   VIEW.  73 

reward  and  penalty.  These  are  of  the  in- 
visible things  of  God  originally  impressed 
on  the  human  race.  Around  the  corpse 
the  family  chant  their  sacred  song,  handed 
down  to  them  long  ago  from  the  spirit-land, 
and  on  its  eight  sections  wildly  sung  the  soul 
of  the  dead  floats  out  of  the  circle  of  the  liv- 
ingand  begins  its  long  journey  to  the  Unseen. 

Through  dark  forests  filled  with  under- 
brush, each  shrub  of  which  is  a  demon 
seeking  to  hold  the  spirit  back  from  a  bet- 
ter land,  he  goes,  aided  by  the  songs  of 
his  family.  Next,  howling  dogs  bound  at 
him,  seeking  to  transform  him  to  their  own 
likeness ;  but,  helped  by  the  song-prayer, 
he  reaches  the  beach  of  a  lake,  beyond 
which  lies  the  city  of  the  happy  dead.  A 
canoe  waits  to  ferry  him  over. 

These  Indians,  for  uncounted  generations 
cut  off  in  Alaska  from  other  races  of  men, 
have  myths  that  strongly  remind  us  of  their 
most  distant  brethren  in  Japheth,  the  Latins 
and  Greeks.  Cerberus,  Styx,  Elysium, — how 
the  likeness  of  the  early  traditions  hints  of 
the  ancient  unity  of  the  race ! 

Arrived  at  Stickagow,  the  blessed  city, 


74  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

the  soul  cannot  share  its  joys  until  the 
body  left  behind  is  burned.  Even  then, 
until  food  and  clothing-  have  been  burned 
for  his  comfort  in  Stickagovv,  he  cannot 
fully  enter  into  its  peace.  This  idea  is  very 
like  that  of  his  Chinese  brethren,  who  al- 
ways burn  paper  and  tinsel  roba  for  the 
use  of  the  soul.  In  former  times  slaves 
were  slaughtered  at  their  master's  funeral, 
so  that  he  might  be  well  served  in  Sticka- 
gow.  If  the  spirit  wearies  of  Stickagow, 
it  may  return.  Going  back  along  the  way 
by  which  it  came,  it  hovers  round  its  old 
home  until  a  child  is  born  ;  then,  entering 
into  the  babe's  body,  the  returned  spirit 
has  a  second  existence. 

Stickagow  is  the  city  for  those  who  die 
in  their  beds ;  Kema  is  a  nobler  place,  a 
fourth  heaven  of  joy,  kept  for  those  who 
die  in  battle.  There,  on  the  topmost  steps 
of  glory,  shines  a  golden  gate,  and,  called 
by  name,  the  warrior  ascends  a  shining- 
ladder  and  enters  a  land  of  glorious  beau- 
ty. The  soul  of  the  dead  hero  needs  no 
aiding-song,  no  pyre,  no  burnt  food,  clothes 
or  slaves.     His  gkosl  has  gone  before  his 


A    NEW   VIEW.  75 

spirit  to  herald  its  coming,  and  all  things 
in  Kema  wait  to  do  him  honor. 

But  for  the  drowned  there  is  a  third 
home,  Hayse.  As  the  last  struggles  are 
over  and  the  breath  goes  up  in  fine  bub- 
bles the  feet  touch  firm  ground.  Here  is 
a  land  of  beauty.  A  house  ready  built 
for  him,  fish  and  game  plenty,  sandy  beach, 
flashing  streams,  fruit  dropping  in  perpet- 
ual ripeness,  salmon  leaping  in  the  sun, — 
he  needs  nothing,  because  he  possesses 
everything.* 

All  this  blessedness  of  the  future  is  for 
man  ;  woman  has  no  inheritance  in  this 
life  nor  in  the  life  to  come.  Slavery,  vice, 
misery, — in  these  is  an  Alaskan  woman's 
portion.  She  expects  nothing  else  ;  hope 
is  dead ;  even  for  her  child  she  expects 
nothing:  she  murders  her  daughter  or 
sells  her  in  early  girlhood  for  a  few 
blankets. 

But,  furnished  with  a  conscience  and 
with  this  small  traditional  liofht  on  the 
future,  the  soul  of  the  Alaskan  is  not  at 
rest.     He  fears  the  yakes,  or  demons ;  he 

*  The  European  Finns  have,  embodied  in  a  song,  this  tradition. 


76  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

fears  greatly  a  dim,  awful,  overshadowing, 
unknown  God,  who,  being  offended,  aban- 
dons him  to  the  yakes.  Like  a  bitter  sea, 
"  the  bad  that  is  in  him  "  sweeps  over  him  ; 
the  promises  of  Stickagow,  Kema  and 
Hayse  fail  to  comfort,  for  he  knows  he  is 
unworthy  of  such  blest  abodes.  With 
murder  of  all  varieties,  theft,  vice,  incest, 
polygamy,  witchcraft,  slavery,  every  pos- 
sible vice,  unchained,  our  new  fellow-coun- 
trymen seem  bad  enough.  One  who  has 
lived  among  them  says :  "  These  pictures 
are  not  strong  enough.  You  would  blush 
that  the  human  family  could  fall  so  low." 

Where,  then,  is  our  hope  for  such  a 
nation  as  this  ? 

Our  hope  is  in  as  intense  and  agonizing 
a  cry  for  light  as  has  ever  burst  from  any 
human  souls.  Suddenly  on  the  dulled  ears 
of  the  American  churches  broke  this  in- 
sistent wail :  "  Li^ht,  lio-ht !  We  die  ! 
Bring  us  light !" 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  ALASKA    OF   THE  FUTURE. 

HAVING  now  had  a  brief  view  of 
Alaska,  its  extent,  soil,  climate  and 
productions ;  having  learned  the  number 
of  its  native  population,  with  their  habits 
of  thought  and  life, — we  come  to  ttie 
questions,  What  are  the  possibilities  and 
the  prospects  of  this  land  ?  What  can 
we  do  with  the  place  and  the  people  ? 
Shall  Alaska  be  left  as  a  waste,  neglected, 
stony,  weed-grown  field  in  the  demesne 
of  the  United  States  ? 

Wise  farmers  have  no  such  fields ;  the 
model  farmer  keeps  clean  even  fence-cor- 
ners, and  that  for  the  sake  of  the  other 
portions  of  his  freehold.  Political  economy 
teaches  us  to  admit  at  once  that  no  part 
of  our  territory  must  be  abandoned  to 
vice,  ignorance,  lawlessness,  because,  thus 

77 


78  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

left,  it  becomes  a  drain  on  the  national 
resources  and  a  corrupter  of  national 
life.  For  the  sake  of  the  country  as  a 
whole,  Alaska  needs,  and  must  have,  law, 
order,  cultivation  and  education. 

Moreover,  once  purchased,  Alaska  and 
its  people  became  as  truly  a  portion  of 
the  United  States  as  is  New  York,  Ken- 
tucky or  Vermont.  All  that  those  States 
and  their  people  could  claim  from  the  gen- 
eral government  Alaska  could  claim  with 
equal  justice.  All  that  which  was  a  right 
in  Idaho  or  Arizona,  as  flowing  from  the 
parent  government  to  its  Territories,  was 
a  right  in  Alaska.  Schools,  protection, 
laws,  sanitary  legislation, — these  Alaska 
could  demand  in  that  one  word  of  Chris- 
tian civilization  :  "  Justice  !" 

But,  aside  from  all  this,  wall  labor  and 
ouday  in  Alaska  pay?  Is  the  land  worth 
reclaiming  from  the  wilderness  state  in 
which  we  find  it  ?  Can  we  create  there 
a  true  civilization  ?  Have  these  people 
such  qualities  as  render  it  possible  for 
them  to  be  fashioned  into  useful  citizens  ? 
Let  us  consider  this. 


THE   ALASKA    OF   THE   FUTURE.  79 

Here  Is,  as  Secretary  Seward  said,  ter- 
ritory enough  to  make  several  States. 
Thirty  thousand  natives,  even  with  their 
natural  increase  under  good  sanitary  con- 
ditions, will  not  afford  a  population  co- 
extensive with  this  territory.  If  Alaska 
is  to  make  good  its  name  and  be  in  any 
political  sense  "  a  great  land,"  a  population 
must  be  provided  by  immigration.  Will 
it  invite  and  justify  immigration  ? 

Men  have  been  found  willingf  to  dare 
the  insalubrious  exhalations  of  the  Isth- 
mus of  Panama,  to  live  in  the  jungles 
of  India,  to  endure  the  blazing  suns  of 
Africa,  to  tempt  death  upon  the  Gold 
Coast,  When  man  will  thus,  in  his  need 
or  wish  for  change,  brave  destruction  in 
the  most  disastrous  climates,  it  is  not  to  be 
doubted  that  he  will  be  ready  to  enter  a 
country  unusually  favorable  to  health,  and 
one  where  the  death-rate  is  remarkably 
small. 

In  1877  three  hundred  and  nineteen 
deaths  were  recorded  in  Alaska.  Of 
these  deaths,  ten  were  of  persons  over 
seventy,  seven    over  eighty,  two    between 


8o  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

eighty-five  and  ninety,  according  to  the 
statistics  of  the  Greek  priest  in  Sitka.  It 
is  evident  that  there  is  nothing  in  the 
cHmate  inimical  to  heahh  and  longevity. 

Concerning  immigration  an  eloquent 
orator  and  author  has  written  :  "  What 
are  the  sig-ns  and  cjuarantees  of  the  com- 
ing  of  this  future  population  ?  This  ques- 
tion, with  all  its  minute  and  searching  in- 
terrogations, has  been  asked  by  the  pio- 
neers of  every  State  and  Territory  of 
which  the  American  Union  is  now  com- 
posed, and  the  history  of  those  States 
and  Territories  has  furnished  the  conclu- 
sive and  satisfactory  answer.  Emigrants 
go  to  every  infant  State  and  Territory  in 
obedience  to  the  great  natural  law  that 
obliges  needy  men  to  seek  subsistence, 
and  invites  adventurous  men  to  seek  for- 
tune, where  it  is  most  easily  obtained ; 
and  this  is  always  in  new  and  unculti- 
vated regions.  They  go  from  every  State 
and  Territory  and  from  every  foreign  na- 
tion in  America,  Europe  and  Asia,  be- 
cause no  established  and  populous  State 
or  nation   can  guarantee   subsistence  and 


THE  ALASKA    OF   THE   FUTURE.  8 1 

fortune   to  all  who    demand    them   amonor 

o 

its  inhabitants." 

Alaska  is  peculiarly  fitted  to  answer  the 
demands  of  people  searching  for  new 
homes. 

To  a  large  extent,  Europe,  Asia  and  the 
well-populated  parts  of  America  have  de- 
pleted their  forests  and  their  fisheries. 
These,  like  the  fields,  need  seasons  of  ly- 
ing, in  a  measure,  fallow,  for  recuperation. 
Alaska  offers  mountains  of  iron,  vast  fields 
of  coal,  wells  of  oil,  springs  of  sulphur, 
minerals  of  many  kinds  in  abundance,  and 
lumber  which  seems  to  destine  it  to  be- 
come a  ship-yard  for  the  world. 

California  long  lay  in  semi-tropical  lux- 
uriance upon  our  Pacific  coast,  ignored, 
neglected,  too  distant  to  be  visited.  But 
gold  was  found  in  California.  Gold  !  It 
was  the  word  of  power,  and  by  it  a  nation 
rose  in  a  day.  Gold  was  the  spell  that 
evoked  inhabitants  as  if  from  the  dust  of 
the  earth.  Need  brought  California  near. 
Where  men  are  resolved  on  going  they 
make  paths  for  their  feet.  Telegraph-lines 
and  railroads  flash  now  across  those  weary 


82  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

distances  where  the  overland  travelers 
toiled  tedious  months  at  peril  of  their 
lives.  Panama  ceased  to  be  an  obstacle. 
Twenty-five  years  ago  California  was  much 
farther  off,  in  point  of  time  and  difficulty, 
than  is  Alaska  to-day.  And  this  magician 
at  whose  charms  California  sprang  into 
importance — Gold — is  present  in  Alaska. 
British  miners  swarm  in  British  Columbia, 
and  it  is  not  to  be  doubted  that  Alaska  has 
more  o^old  than  British  Columbia.  Ten 
years  from  now  gold- miners  by  the  thou- 
sand will  be  living  in  Alaska,  and  they  will 
have  their  families  with  them,  because  they 
will  find  transportation  for  those  families 
easy  and  subsistence  cheap. 

When  iron  can  be  dug  in  illimitable 
quantities  out  of  a  mountain,  and  at  the 
very  base  of  that  mountain  can  be  got  in- 
calculable tons  of  coal  of  the  most  in- 
flammable quality,  it  is  not  to  be  doubted 
that  in  a  decade  furnaces  will  be  burning 
and  roaring,  and  iron-masters  getting  rich, 
and  foreign  miners  and  iron-workers  pour- 
ing into  Alaska.  Iron  is  always  worth  more 
to  a  country  than  is  gold;  it  is  a  surer  foun- 


THE  ALASKA    OF   THE   FUTURE.  83 

dation  of  commercial  and  manufacturing 
prosperity. 

Alaska  has  wood,  limestone  and  mar- 
ble for  her  own  architecture ;  she  has  iron 
with  which  to  build  her  roads,  and  coal 
with  which  to  feed  her  factory-fires ;  she 
can  cut  her  own  telegraph-poles  and  rail- 
road-ties, and  build  her  own  ships ;  she 
has  her  own  safe  harbors  in  vast  number. 
Here  are  guarantees  of  her  early  and 
sure  prosperity,  if  moral  development  keeps 
pace  with  physical. 

Other  guarantees  are  to  be  found  in  the 
fact  that  California,  lying  near  Alaska,  is 
almost  as  magnificant  a  centre  of  civiliza- 
tion as  is  New  York.  Oregon  is  develop- 
ing in  all  its  vast  resources  ;  railroads  and 
telegraph-lines  leap  from  the  Atlantic  to 
the  Pacific — not  by  one  path,  but  by  many. 
The  distant  is  brought  near :  commerce  has 
no  longer  to  employ  the  fickle  wings  of  the 
wind,  but  the  fleeter  feet  of  steam.  All 
these  facts  assure  the  near  and  maenifi- 
cent  expansion  of  the  wealth  of  Alaska. 

When  once  this  country  is  opened  up 
and  provides  accommodations  for  tourists, 


84  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

a  great  stream  of  travel  from  Europe  and 
America  will  be  turned  thither.  Here  is 
a  region  of  glaciers  that  surpass  those  of 
Switzerland,  and  of  snow-capped  moun- 
tains that  outvie  the  Alps,  the  Apennines, 
the  Pyrenees  and  the  High  Rockies.  Along 
the  coast  lie  crowded  island- chains  that 
exceed  in  beauty  that  island- fringed  shore 
of  Norway  which  yearly  attracts  thou- 
sands of  lovers  of  nature.  Here,  too, 
as  well  as  in  Norway,  can  be  found  a 
land  of  the  midnight  sun.  The  traveler 
may  here  reach  a  day  when  there  is  no 
night.  He  will  behold  the  marvel  at 
which   Kinof  Alfred  doubted  : 

"  The  days  grew  longer  and  longer, 

Till  they  became  as  one ; 
And  southward  through  the  haze  * 

I  saw  the  sullen  blaze 

Of  the  red  midnight  sun. 

"  Four  days  I  steered  to  the  eastward — 
Four  days  without  a  night ; 
Round  in  a  fiery  ring 
Went  the  great  sun,  O  King! 
With  red  and  lurid  light." 

Then  with  this  host  of  wonder-  and  pleas- 
ure-seekers will  throne  the  host  of  invalids 


THE  ALASKA    OF   THE   FUTURE.  8/ 

and  valetudinarians  seeking  help  from 
Alaska's  hundred  mineral  and  thermal 
springs. 

The   initiative  of    emigration   to  Alaska 
may  be  briefly  noted. 

The  seal  and  other  fur-fisheries  had  been 
the  great  interest  of  Alaska  from  the  time 
of  its  entrance  by  white  people.  To  the 
Russian  fur  company  succeeded  the  Alas- 
ka Commercial  Company,  with  its  fisheries, 
trading-stations  and  employes.  American 
troops  w^ere  sent  to  protect  the  white  in- 
habitants, and  United  States  vessels,  on 
exploring,  revenue  and  sanitary  service, 
followed.  The  salmon-  and  cod-fisheries 
came  next,  with  drying  and  canning  es- 
tablishments, bringing  traders,  capitalists 
and  their  employes.  The  lumber  and 
mining  interests  becoming  known,  new 
emigrants  appeared,  and  quartz-mills  were 
built,  and  vessels  and  steam-launches  went 
farther  inland ;  more  vessels  came  up  from 
California  and  Oregon,  and  postal  service 
increased.  On  the  principle  that  "  to  him 
that  hath  shall  be  given,"  the  more  emi- 
grants   that   go   to  Alaska,  the   more  will 


88  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

follow  them.  The  more  traders,  the  more 
trade  will  be  developed. 

Thus  much  for  the  white  men,  their 
position  and  prospects  in  Alaska.  What 
of  the  Indians  ? 

Strictly  speaking,  the  Indians,  though 
we  have  viewed  them  as  citizens,  are  not 
really  citizens :  they  are  the  material  of 
which  we  must  make  citizens.  What  is 
the  promise  of  this  material  ? 

Secretary  Seward,  after  visiting  the  vari- 
ous tribes,  declared  that  they  are  "  a  peo- 
ple gifted  by  nature,  vigorous,  energetic, 
docile,  gentle."  They  are  a  people  ambi- 
tious to  learn  and  capable  of  rapid  pro- 
gress. We  find  them  house-  and  boat- 
builders,  living  in  villages  and  exercising 
certain  arts.  Here  is  a  good  starting- 
point.  They  are  imitative,  carefully  ob- 
servant of  white  men  and  swift  to  follow 
their  example.  A  little  incident  amusing- 
ly illustrates  this :  At  a  religious  meeting 
of  whites  and  Indians  the  Indians  silently 
observed  that  the  white  men  carried  their 
children  on  their  arms,  while  among  the 
Indians  the  women   carried  the  little  ones. 


THE  ALASKA    OF   THE   FUTURE.  89 

The  next  Sabbath  the  Indian  men  came 
carrying  their  infants. 

Several  of  the  pupils  received  into  the 
Presbyterian  mission-schools  have  shown 
a  eood  decree  of  musical  talent,  and  some 
draw  very  well.  They  learn  the  English 
language — reading  and  spelling  and  writ- 
ing— very  rapidly.  Letters  and  composi- 
tions written  in  English,  by  children  and 
youth  who  three  or  four  years  ago  were 
absolute  heathen,  show  a  great  natural 
ability.  It  has  been  said  of  them,  "  They 
are  mad  after  education."  These  Indians 
are  prompt  to  adopt  "white"  ways  of 
living,  dressing  and  eating.  They  are 
eaeer  to  build  houses  with  numerous 
rooms,  to  get  their  women  dresses  "  like 
white  ladies ;"  they  want  saw-mills,  and 
learn  gardening  industriously.  These 
tribes  will  travel  for  miles  and  miles  to 
get  within  reach  of  schools,  teachers  and 
Sabbath  services. 

An  English  missionary  long  acquainted 
with  these  people  writes  :  "  They  are  so 
open  to  the  gospel  that,  from  the  ex- 
perience   of    the    past,    the    Christianizing 


90  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

of  them  is,  with  God's  blessing,  a  mere 
matter  of  men  and  money :  they  are  Hke 
fields  white  to  the  harvest."  In  their  zeal 
for  instruction  people  and  chiefs  have  fre- 
quently given  houses  of  their  best  build- 
ing for  schools  and  churches;  they  also 
subscribe  blankets,  furs  and  the  money 
laboriously  earned  by  fishing,  by  work  in 
the  salmon-factories  and  by  sale  of  dried 
fruits  and  berries,  to  procure  books  and 
teachers. 

"  I  am  sorry,"  said  one  chief  to  certain 
merchants  and  missionaries  who  were  his 
guests,  "  to  ask  you  to  sit  in  this  old-fash- 
ioned house  ;  when  you  come  again,  I  will 
have  a  new  American  house  for  you  to 
sit  in." 

Another  promising  trait  in  these  Indians 
is  the  amount  of  loyal  feeling  to  the  United 
States  which  they  exhibit.  They  love  the 
starred-and-striped  flag  with  a  veritable 
enthusiasm,  and  have  the  highest  idea  of 
the  potency  of  their  "  father  in  Washing- 
ton." Certain  handkerchiefs  given  them, 
by  a  United  States  officer — common  cot- 
ton kerchiefs  with  pictures  of  Washington 


THE  ALASKA    OF   THE  FUTURE.  9 1 

and  Lincoln — were  received  as  rarest  treas- 
ures ;  they  call  themselves  "  Boston  Si- 
washes,"  or  Boston  Indians,  meaning  Unit- 
ed States  Indians,  and  showing  their  swift- 
ness of  comprehension  in  having  already 
imbibed  the  idea  that  Boston  is  the  centre 
of  the  United  States,  if  not  of  creation! 

But,  above  all,  the  promise  for  the  future 
of  these  natives  lies  in  their  religious  ten- 
derness and  susceptibility.  With  wonder- 
ful readiness  they  receive  religious  instruc- 
tion. Burdened  beyond  any  known  tribe 
by  an  overpowering  sense  of  sin,  by  "  the 
bad  that  is  in  them,"  they  accept  with  ardor 
the  preaching  of  the  gospel.  They  travel 
hundreds  of  miles  for  instruction. 

An  Indian  way-worn  with  travel  entered 
a  Sitka  store. 

"Tell  me,"  he  demanded,  going  up  to 
the  counter:  "  do  you  know  Jesus  Christ? 
I  have  heard  that  he  came  from  the  skies 
to  save  me  from  the  bad  that  is  in  me." 

The  story  of  "  God's  boy  that  came  down 
from  heaven  to  save  and  make  good  the 
people  of  earth "  has  fallen  on  their  ears 
and  reached   their  hearts  as   a  tale  beyond 


92  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

all  the  traditions  of  their  fathers.  Gifted 
with  a  natural  eloquence  and  simple  force 
of  speech  that  seems  peculiar  to  Indian 
races,  they  repeat  the  evangel  to  each 
other  in  the  heartiest  terms,  and,  readily 
accepting  its  provisions,  abandon  their 
heathenism  and  strive  to  live  in  accordance 
with  the  divine  command.  It  has  been  a 
true  delight  to  carry  the  good  news  to  a 
people  so  marvelously  prepared  to  re- 
ceive  it. 

In  the  path  of  all  these  fair  possibilities 
and  goodly  promises  lie  certain  dangers  and 
stumbling-blocks.  One  hardly  knows  which 
to  place  first,  for  all  are  equally  important. 

These  Indians  must  have  instruction, 
schools  and  domestic  education.  Without 
these  they  cannot  reach  citizenship,  live  in 
fair  sanitary  conditions,  compete  in  any 
wise  with  their  white  neighbors  or  save 
themselves  from  the  encroachments  of  un- 
scrupulous white  men. 

The  Territory  must  be  provided  with 
law  and  ofovernment,  as  the  other  Territories 
are.  Thus  far,  there  is  neither  order  nor 
authority.     The  Indians  at  Wrangell  held  a 


THE   ALASKA    OF  THE  FUTURE.  93 

constitutional  convention,  appointed  certain 
officers  and  bound  themselves  by  certain 
laws.  Officers  of  United  States  men-of- 
war  have  acted  as  wise  and  merciful  dicta- 
tors, but  a  government  is  the  instant  need 
of  Alaska. 

Intemperance  has  proved  a  horrible 
scourge  to  Alaska.  Taught  to  make  liquor 
out  of  molasses  and  fruit  of  all  kinds,  these 
Indians,  like  other  Indians,  have  gone  mad 
in  excess  of  intoxication.  Their  orgies  are 
horrible  beyond  description  ;  fire,  murder, 
theft,  disease,  death,  have  been  there  a  le- 
gion of  devils  unchained  by  the  great  de- 
mon of  Intemperance. 

Ignorance,  lawlessness,  intemperance, — 
these  are  the  three  foul  harpies  feeding  on 
the  vitals  of  our  newly-acquired  Territory. 
Unless  these  unclean  spirits  are  success- 
fully laid,  the  fair  future  of  Alaska  will  dis- 
appear under  a  pall  of  darkness,  her  hoped- 
for  day  will  suddenly  go  down  in  blood. 
The  advancement  of  the  white  race  will  be 
indefinitely  retarded  and  the  Indian  race 
will  be  exterminated  unless  for  Alaska  we 
secure  law,  education,  temperance,  religion. 


CHAPTER  V. 

BEHOL  D  !    MORNING  ! 

OVER  the  intense  darkness  of  this  our 
most  western  Territory  Hfted  slowly 
the  faint  light  of  dawn.  It  broke,  as  do  all 
daysprings,  from  the  east. 

To  the  eastward  of  Alaska,  with  much 
the  same  conditions  of  soil,  climate,  pro- 
ductions and  population,  lies  British  Colum- 
bia. 

Great  Britain  is  not  niggard  in  giving 
teachers  and  preachers  to  her  far-off  colo- 
nies. Where  the  sons  of  England  emigrate, 
there  the  care  of  the  home-land  accompa- 
nies them. 

After  various  precursive  missionary  ef- 
forts during  a  number  of  years,  in  1864 
the  Wesleyan  Methodist  Church  of  Canada 
fairly  established  its  work  in  British  Co- 
lumbia, and  the  Rev.  Thomas  Crosby  was 
settled  at  Nanaimo.  Mr.  Crosby  was  an 
94 


BEHOLD!     MORNING!  95 

enthusiast  in  his  chosen  toils,  and  learned 
the  Indian  dialects  with  a  facility  that  re- 
minds one  of  the  days  when  the  early 
Church  "  spoke  with  tongues,  as  the  Spirit 
gave  them  utterance." 

Into  British  Columbia  came  many  of  the 
Alaskan  Indians  to  work  as  wood-choppers  ; 
for,  unlike  the  Indians  of  our  other  Terri- 
tories, the  Alaskan  is  a  willing  laborer :  he 
does  not  esteem  himself  degraded  by  use- 
ful occupation,  and  earns  a  dollar  wherever 
he  may. 

In  the  neighborhood  of  Victoria,  Van- 
couver's Island,  the  Methodists  established 
a  school,  where  the  average  attendance  for 
two  years  was  only  ten  or  twelve,  as  the 
poverty  of  the  Indians  forbade  their  taking 
working-time  to  attend  school.  But  two 
years  of  teaching  and  preaching  bore  fruit : 
a  revival  began,  and  forty  were  converted. 
Elizabeth  Deix,  an  hereditary  chief,  was 
among  the  converts.  She  had  a  son,  Al- 
fred, a  pagan,  who  was  married,  spoke  Eng- 
lish well  and  lived  at  Fort  Simpson,  five 
hundred  miles  north  of  Victoria  and  fifteen 
miles  from  the  Alaska  frontier.     The  con- 


96  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

verted  mother  prayed  earnestly  for  her 
heathen  son.  She  addressed  herself  to 
that  Jesus  who  is  the  same  yesterday  and 
to-day  and  for  ever,  and  of  whom  it  is  no- 
where recorded  that  while  on  earth  he  was 
deaf  to  a  parent's  prayer  for  a  child. 

One  peculiarity  of  Alaskan  Indians  is  a 
deep  filial  affection.  Over  long  distances, 
and  at  any  sacrifice,  they  will  go  again 
to  see  a  parent.  While  Elizabeth  Deix 
prayed  her  son  arrived  with  his  wife  on 
a  visit,  and  both  were  speedily  numbered 
among  the  converts, 

Alfred  Deix  developed  a  very  zealous 
Christian  character.  He  returned  to  Fort 
Simpson,  and,  aided  by  his  wife,  opened 
a  school,  had  soon  two  hundred  pupils — 
among  whom  he  organized  prayer-  and 
experience-meetings  and  religious  classes 
— and  every  family  at  the  fort  renounced 
paganism  before  a  missionary  arrived.  In 
answer  to  urgent  demands  for  a  pastor, 
Mr.  Crosby  and  his  wife  were  sent  to  Fort 
Simpson. 

In  1876  a  number  of  Indians  from  Fort 
Simpson    went    to    Fort  Wrangell    to    cut 


BEHOLD  !    MORNING !  9/ 

wood.     Among   these  was   Clah,  or  Philip 
McKay,   one   of   the    most   pious   and   in- 
telhgent    of    the    Fort    Simpson    Christian 
Indians.     When    these    people   arrived    at 
Fort    Wrangell,    they   found   it   in    a   most 
shocking   condition    in  point  of   ignorance 
and   immorality.     A    military    and    trading 
post,   so    far    from    any  seat   of    authority 
that  no  one  expected  to   be  called  to  ac- 
count for  his   doings,  the  white  men  were 
generally  the  leaders  of  the  Indians  in  vice. 
All  the  diabolical  orgies  and  inhumanities 
of  paganism   among  the   natives  were  al- 
lowed to  flourish  unchecked,  and,  beyond 
this,  the  Indians  became  gamblers,  drunk- 
ards and  horridly  debauched  and  degraded. 
Some  of  that  holy  fire  which  stirred  the 
heart  of   Paul   when    he   entered   heathen 
cities  burned  in  the  soul  of  Philip  McKay, 
who,   hitherto    unconscious    of   his    calling, 
had  been  chosen  of  God  as  an  apostle  to 
his  kindred.     Philip  secured  the  use  of  an 
old    dance-house    for    a    schoolroom     and 
preaching-place.     The  commandant  of  the 
fort    gave    the    evangelists    his    protection 
and   aided    them    in    securing    a   plot   of 
7 


98  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

ground    tor     Christian    burial    of    Indian 
dead. 

A  few  of  the  natives  came  to  the  new 
services,  and  certain  white  men  attended 
to  mock  and  jeer  or  wonder,  but  some 
also  to  countenance  and  help.  More  and 
more  natives  came  to  hear  "  the  good 
news,"  and  about  fifty  were  converted  en- 
tirely through  the  agency  of  these  few 
Christian  Indians.  Philip  showed  an  un- 
usual gift  for  teaching,  and  his  comrades 
desired  him  to  devote  himself  exclusively 
to  labors  as  a  missionary.  They  offered 
to  work  harder  and  provide  his  food.  He 
agreed  to  the  proposal,  and  labored  with 
all  his  might,  his  friends,  out  of  their 
poverty,  giving  him  salmon  to  eat  three 
times  a  day  for  the  three  hundred  and 
sixty-five  days  in  the  year.  The  work 
and  the  living  told  most  disastrously  on 
his  health. 

The  converted  Indians  refused  to  work 
on  Sabbath,  and  at  their  meetings  the 
presence  of  the  Holy  Spirit  was  often 
wonderfully  manifested.  Philip  wrote  to 
Mr.  Crosby,  begging  him  to  come  to  P^ort 


BEHOLD!     MORNING!  99 

Wrangell.  Accordingly,  in  the  fall  of  1876, 
after  some  six  months'  work  by  Philip,  Mr. 
Crosby  arrived  and  undertook  to  secure 
a  church-building.  The  Indians  subscribed 
money  and  blankets  ;  audiences  of  from 
two  to  four  hundred  gathered  on  the  Sab- 
bath, and  sixty  adults  demanded  a  school. 

Mr.  Crosby  directed  Philip  to  remain 
and  take  charge  of  the  school,  and  prom- 
ised to  supervise  the  mission  until  the 
American  churches  should  undertake  its 
control. 

An  American  soldier  at  Fort  Wrangell, 
seeing  the  great  good  that  had  been  ac- 
complished and  the  earnestness  of  the 
people  for  instruction,  wrote  an  admirable 
letter  to  General  Howard,  entreating  him 
to  secure  missionaries  and  funds  for  the 
field  so  providentially  opened.  Captain 
Jocelyn,  of  the  Twenty-first  United  States 
Infantry,  commandant  at  Wrangell,-  con- 
tinued to  protect  the  new  church,  and 
gave  to  Philip  some  books  that  had  been 
sent  from  the  American  Tract  Society. 

Several  Christian  ladies,  wives  of  army- 
officers,   having  visited  Alaska  and   noted 


lOO  AMONG-   THE   ALASKANS. 

the  need  and  desire  for  relio-ious  teachinof 
had  written  to  their  friends  of  various 
churches,  entreating  them  to  begin  mis- 
sion work  in  Alaska,  but  their  appeals 
had  produced  no  active  effect. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Lindsley  of  Portland, 
Oregon,  had  looked  with  anxiety  to  this 
neglected  Territory,  had  appealeci  in  its 
behalf  to  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  For- 
eiofn  Missions  and  had  secured  business 
in  Alaska  for  a  Presbyterian  gentleman, 
who  promised  to  investigate  and  report 
in  regard  to  the  needs  and  the  promise 
of  Alaska  as  a  missionary  field. 

This  gentleman  went  to  Alaska  in  the 
spring  of  1877,  but  a  fatal  illness  prevent- 
ed any  work  he  might  have  done. 

In  this  same  spring,  of  1877,  the  hour 
of  hope  for  Alaska  seemed  at  last  to  have 
arrived. 

As  the  names  of  Martyn  and  Duff  are 
inseparably  connected  with  India  missions, 
and  those  of  Eliot  and  Brainard  with  the 
conversion  of  the  tribes  of  the  Eastern 
coast  of  the  United  States  ;  as  the  mem- 
ory of  the  Judsons  is  linked  with  Burmah, 


BEHOLD!    MORNING!  lOI 

and  that  of  Whitman  with  work  and  mar- 
tyrdom in  Oregon, — so  the  Church  will 
always  connect  the  name  of  a  zealous 
home  missionary,  Sheldon  Jackson,  with  the 
evanofelization  of  Alaska.  Years  of  work 
among  and  beyond  the  Rocky  Mountains 
had  not  discouraged  this  indefatigable 
worker.  On  the  contrary,  toils  complet- 
ed had  only  proved  that  work  is  easy 
to  him  who  wills,  and  that  the  sowing 
of  God's  word  is  certain  to  bring  its  har- 
vest. During  long  journeys  in  desolate 
regions  his  thought  had  gone  beyond  the 
present  field  to  that  most  distant  Territory 
of  the  North-west  where  all  was  darkness 
and  the  shadow  of  death.  Resolutions 
which  seemed  to  have  fallen  fruitlessly 
when  they  were  offered  in  the  Assemblies 
had  left  an  echo  in  a  heart  which  knew 
by  daily  experience  what  was  the  desola- 
tion of  an  unevangelized  region. 

Since  1869  a  congressional  appropria- 
tion of  fifty  thousand  dollars,  accorded 
in  answer  to  the  urgent  representations 
of  Vincent  Collyer,  had  lain  idle  for  want 
of  proper  persons  to  administer  it.     Gen- 


I02  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

eral  Howard  had  again  and  again  appealed 
through  the  papers  to  Christians  and  phil- 
anthropists to  take  an  interest  in  Alaska, 
"  but  none  heard,  neither  was  there  any 
to  answer."  It  remained  for  Dr.  Jackson 
to  found  the  mission,  secure  the  mission- 
aries and  arouse  the  Church. 

The  soldier's  plea  to  General  Howard 
in  the  spring  of  1877  for  gospel  light 
in  Alaska  reached  Dr.  Jackson  while  at 
the  meeting  of  the  General  Assembly  at 
Chicago  in  1877.  He  at  once  published 
this  letter  in  secular  and  religious  papers, 
and  sent  a  copy  to  the  Presbyterian  Board 
of  Home  Missions,  with  the  urgent  request 
that  a  missionary  be  sent.  This  Board, 
having  requested  Dr.  Jackson  to  make  a 
special  mission-tour  through  Idaho  and 
parts  of  Oregon,  and  Washington  Ter- 
ritory, responded  to  his  request  and  the 
soldier's  appeal  by  commissioning  the  Rev. 
F.  H.  Robinson  for  Alaska ;  but  meantime 
Mr.  Robinson  had  accepted  a  call  to  a 
church  in   California. 

Dr.  Jackson,  starting  on  the  trip  indi- 
cated to    him,  found   his  way  stopped    by 


BEHOLD!    MORNING!  IO3 

the  outbreak  of  the  Nez  Perces  war,  which 
rendered  quite  unfit  for  mission  work  the 
condition  of  the  country  which  he  was  re- 
quested to  traverse.  At  once  it  flashed 
upon  him  that  now  had  come  the  opportu- 
nity for  which  he  had  longed  to  enter  that 
open  door  in  Alaska.  The  Presbyterian 
ministers  in  Oregon  heartily  approved 
his  proposed  visit  to  Alaska. 

But  now  came  the  question,  Would  a 
missionary  of  the  cross  dare  to  enter  this 
land,  clamorous  for  spiritual  bread,  and 
make  merely  a  visit  of  inspection,  ascer- 
taining what  was  needed  and  how  the 
need  could  be  met,  yet  returning  without 
meeting  that  need  except  by  promises? 
The  Indians  had  grown  sick  of  promises. 

Howard  and  Halleck,  with  the  heartiest 
intention,  had  again  and  again  promised 
the  Indians  to  send  preachers  and  teachers 
to  them,  and  had  been  utterly  unable  to 
find  the  missionaries  or  the  means  for 
their  support.  The  sending  of  preachers 
and  teachers  was  not  the  work  belonging 
to  the  United  States  army  or  to  Congress: 
it  was   the  work   of  the   Church   of   God; 


I04  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

and  the  deafness  of  the  Church  to  urgent 
appeals  and  representations  is  one  of  the 
incomprehensible  mysteries  of  the  religious 
life  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

Dr.  Jackson  questioned  with  himself 
whether  he  could  pass  through  those 
hundreds  of  hands  outstretched  for  food, 
look  into  eyes  wild  with  spiritual  hunger, 
and  try  to  feed  them  on  a  promise  that  he 
would  go  home  and  ask  the  Church  to 
send  them  the  aid  they  craved.  And 
while  he  went — they  would  die !  How 
many  had  perished  hopelessly  gazing  to- 
ward a  promised  succor  that  never  ar- 
rived !  It  was  evident  that  right  then 
and  there  a  beginning  must  be  made. 
One  teacher  at  least  must  lead  the  ad- 
vance ;  one  must  go  as  an  earnest  of  the 
coming  good  and  the  honest  faith  of  the 
Church  of  Christ.  Time  pressed ;  the 
season  was  advancing ;  the  visit  to  Alas- 
ka must  be  made  at  once,  and  the  mis- 
sionary, if  one  could  be  found,  must  be 
ready  to  make  an  instant  sacrifice. 

One  person  was  ready  to  go,  and  did  go 
at  five  days'  notice — Mrs.  A.  R.  McFarland. 


BEHOLD!    MORNING!  IO5 

Possessed  of  unusual  courao^e  and  eood 
judgment,  a  fine  constitution  and  a  hearty 
missionary  spirit,  Mrs.  McFarland  had  yet 
other  qualifications  for  the  arduous  duty 
proposed  to  her.  Twenty  years  of  home- 
mission  work  had  matured  her  experience 
and  rendered  her  ready  in  meeting  and 
conquering  emergencies  that  would  have 
alarmed  other  people.  Sorrow  and  be- 
reavement had  consecrated  her  spirit;  God 
had  placed  her  in  a  position  where  she 
could  undertake  this  toil  without  neglect- 
inof  other  duties. 

Christian  missions  on  the  north-western 
coast  will  ever  remain  associated  with  the 
names  of  four  persons  who  have  undertaken 
unusual  labors  and  surmounted  exceptional 
difficulties.  First  comes  that  of  Veniaminoff, 
the  Greek-Church  bishop,  whose  humility, 
enlightenment,  charity  and  zeal  were  not 
only  far  beyond  his  age,  but  the  average 
of  any  age.  For  years  he  was  the  sole 
advocate,  helper  and  defence  of  a  race  out- 
cast among  the  nations.  William  Duncan, 
of  the  Church  of  England,  is  another  of 
these  bright  names.     Forgetting  ambition. 


I06  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

despising  ease,  forsaking  his  own  country 
and  his  father's  house,  counting  even  Hfe 
not  dear  if  he  might  win  those  simple  In- 
dian souls  for  the  Son  of  God,  he  has 
created  a  civilization  in  Metlahkatlah  and 
brought  many  sons  to  glory.  The  Meth- 
odist Church  of  Canada  has  given  the  third 
name  in  this  roll  of  honor — that  of  Thomas 
Crosby.  With  a  most  unusual  gift  in  ac- 
quiring langages,  Mr.  Crosby  in  six  months 
so  mastered  the  difficult  dialect  of  the  In- 
dians that  without  an  interpreter  he  was 
able  to  preach  to  the  natives.  Tireless 
in  traveling  up  and  down  the  coast  and 
the  Fraser  River,  thousands  of  conversions 
crowned  his  efforts.  Schools  and  villaijes 
of  Christian  Indians  marked  the  way  where 
this  young  apostle  wandered,  and  his  spirit- 
ual children  were  those  who  began  in  Alaska 
that  mission  work  which  has  of  late  so  re- 
markably flourished.  Thus  England  and 
America  exchange  and  interchange  in  their 
close  mutual  relations  the  light  of  life.  The 
fourth  name  which  will  be  cherished  in  the 
future  chronicles  of  the  evangel  in  the  far 
North-west  is  that  of  Mrs.  A.  R.  McFarland  ; 


BEHOLD!     MORNING!  IO7 

and  the  Presbyterian  Church  may  well  re- 
joice in  possessing  so  courageous  and  faith- 
ful a  daughter. 

A  child  of  Virginia,  Mrs.  McFarland  was 
educated  in  that  school  which  is  the  best 
monument  of  that  admirable  woman  Mrs. 
Dr.  Charles  Beatty.  Married  to  a  mission- 
ary, Illinois,  New  Mexico,  California  and 
Oregon  were  successive  fields  of  her  labor; 
and  then,  in  1877,  this  woman  consented — 
cheerfully  consented — to  remain  alone  on 
the  Alaskan  coast,  the  one  missionary  in 
Alaska,  representative  of  the  thirty  million 
Protestants  of  the  'United  States.  Mrs. 
McFarland  stood  as  the  Church's  forlorn 
hope  in  that  neglected  field.  She  had  made 
up  her  mind  to  maintain  that  post  and 
the  banner  of  the  cross  or  perish.  Her 
success,  and  even  her  support,  were  prob- 
lematical ;  but  Dr.  Jackson  knew  that  she 
was  able  to  vindicate  by  her  works  her 
place,  and  he  also  knew  that  there  were 
enough  Presbyterian  women  capable  of 
appreciating  a  noble  deed  to  assure  her 
maintenance  and  sympathy. 

On  the   loth  of  August,  1877,  Dr.  Jack- 


I08  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

son  and  Mrs.  McFarland  stepped  from 
the  steamer,  and,  entering  the  streets  of 
Fort  Wrangell,  founded  the  Alaska  mission. 
Through  busy  days  and  wakeful  nights  Dr. 
Jackson  had  thought  of  this  country  and  its 
needs,  and  now  the  hour  of  beginning  work 
had  come.  Would  the  Church  vindicate  the 
enterprise  and  assume  its  responsibilities  ? 

A  semicircle  of  wooden  houses  dominated 
by  an  empty  fort ;  a  high,  forest- crowned 
hill ;  a  small  harbor ;  a  fleet  of  Indian 
canoes ;  white  men,  bustling  and  aggress- 
ive ;  dark  Mongolians  with  their  downcast 
faces  written  with  centuries  of  wrong  and 
oppression, — from  these  could  the  two  mis- 
sionaries read  their  answer  ? 

But  an  Indian  rings  a  bell ;  into  the  door 
by  which  he  stands  enter  some  twenty  In- 
dians, among  them  a  mother  and  her  three 
children.  The  missionaries  follow  them, 
and,  lo  !  Philip  and  his  school !  Here  were 
reverent  faces  bent  in  silent  prayer  for  aid; 
here  stood  Philip  praying  aloud  ;  a  song  of 
praise  to  Jesus  rose  from  Indian  lips  ;  the 
Lord's  Prayer  was  repeated,  these  far-off 
children  who  had    been   prodigal   so   long 


BEHOLD!     MORNING!  IO9 

crying  out  to  their  "  Father."  Then  came 
lessons  ;  then  the  doxology,  the  benediction, 
the  kind  farewell  at  parting. 

Silently  the  two  missionaries  sat  and 
watched  as  the  afternoon  school  went  on  ; 
peace  entered  into  their  souls  as  a  benison 
from  heaven  ;  they  found  the  courage  of 
assurance.  There  was  no  need  of  further 
questioning:  God  himself  had  given  them 
their  answer.  Here  He  who  works  as  he 
will  had  gone  before  them.  Amid  all  dis- 
advantages, in  the  midst  of  obstacles,  in 
silence  and  carefulness,  this  work  had  al- 
ready begun.  From  Philip,  at  this  time  en- 
feebled by  the  first  encroachment  of  a  fatal 
disease,  fell  a  great  burden,  and  as  stronger 
hands  lifted  it  he  could  say,  "  Now,  Lord, 
lettest  thou  thy  servant  depart  in  peace." 


CHAPTER    VI. 

THE    CHURCH  AWAKES. 

UP  to  the  period  of  the  purchase  the 
influence  of  white  people  on  Alas- 
ka had  been  litde  else  than  disastrous. 
Veniaminoff  was  the  one  bright  light  In 
the  darkness  of  Russian  occupadon.  Of 
the  Russians  of  Alaska,  Dall  says:  "The 
meaning  of  truth  and  honesty  is  incom- 
prehensible to  these  degraded  wretches. 
Life  among  the  natives  is  far  preferable 
to  being  surrounded  by  white  men  of 
such  a  despicable  class." 

The  commandants  of  the  Russian  posts 
were  often  Creoles  or  men  of  the  lowest 
class,  neither  officers,  educated  men  nor 
gentlemen,  Baranoff,  who  was  eovernor 
for  the  longest  period,  had  once  been  a  com- 
mon sailor  ;  many  of  the  commandants  could 
neither  read  nor  write.  To  a  man,  they 
were  fond  of  whisky ;  and  Dall  tells  us 
no 


THE   CHURCH  AWAKES.  Ill 

that  he  was  forced  pubHcly  to  poiso7i  all 
the  alcohol  which  he  carried  for  the  pres- 
ervation of  his  natural-history  collections, 
so  that  the  Russians  should  not  drink  all 
the  liquor  off  his  specimens  ! 

The  Hudson  Bay  Fur  Company's  em- 
ployes in  the  forts  and  trading-posts  on 
the  Yukon  and  through  Central  Alaska 
were  in  no  wise  superior  to  the  Russians 
in  morals  and  manners.  The  one  object 
was  to  make  money  for  the  company  at 
home,  and  the  servants  of  the  company 
in  Alaska  were  treated  in  a  manner 
most  outrageous.  They  were  nearly 
starved ;  were  kept  in  rags ;  were  cheat- 
ed shamefully ;  were,  if  possible,  forced 
to  marry  Indian  wives  ;  were  subjected 
to  all  manner  of  impositions  and  even 
the  comforts  of  food  and  clothing,  which 
were  pledged  them  by  contract  and  sent 
to  them  by  the  company,  were  wrested 
from  them  and  given  to  the  Indians.  Dall 
says:  "They  perform  a  larger  amount  of 
labor  for  smaller  pay  than  any  other  civil- 
ized people  on  the  globe.  The  hardships 
and  exposures  to  which  they  are  subjected 


112  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

are  beyond  belief.  In  fact,  the  whole  sys- 
tem is  one  of  tyranny,  and  only  in  North 
Scotland  could  men  of  intelligfence  be 
found  who  would  submit  to  it.  The  sys- 
tematic way  jn  which  the  white  '  servant 
of  the  company '  is  ground  down  below 
the  level  of  the  Indian  is  a  degradation 
few  could  bear." 

Tyranny  begets  vice  and  further  tyranny; 
so  that  the  influence  of  these  abused  men 
on  the  tribes  was  disastrous  in  the  extreme. 
The  Aleut  Indians  of  the  islands  and  of  the 
south  coast  after  a  hundred  and  fifty  years 
of  Russian  atrocities  and  constant  oppres- 
sion had  become  passive ;  all  life  and  all 
spirit  were  stamped  out  of  them.  The 
Indians  of  Central  and  North-eastern  Alas- 
ka were  of  a  fiercer  and  more  independent 
type,  and  had  suffered  less  from  white  dom- 
ination. 

The  idea  has  prevailed  that  the  Hudson 
Bay  Fur  Company  had  no  conflicts  with  the 
Indians.  This  opinion,  though  carefully 
fostered  by  that  company,  is  false  :  san- 
guinary conflicts  and  wholesale  massacres 
were    neither    revealed    nor    revenged    by 


THE    CHURCH  A  WAKES.  I  I  3 

the  company,  for  fear  of  stopping  their 
trade  and  preventing-  men  from  going  out 
as  their  "  servants."  Dall  declares  that 
full  as  many  conflicts  with  the  whites,  in 
proportion  to  the  numbers,  have  taken 
place  at  the  posts  of  the  Hudson  Bay 
Company  as  in  our  Western  States. 

Extravagant  flatteries,  presents  and  keep- 
ing the  "  white  servants  "  of  the  company 
in  constant  subjection  to  the  native  chiefs 
were  the  means  used  by  the  Hudson  Bay 
Company  to  maintain  a  trading-place.  Forts 
Selkirk,  Pelly  Banks,  Dease,  Francis,  Ba- 
bine.  Peace  River  and  Nelson  all  mark 
the  scene  of  Indian  massacres  under  Hud- 
son Bay  jurisdiction. 

We  are  told  that  naturally,  and  among 
themselves,  these  Indians  are  quiet,  un- 
warlike,  not  given  to  bloodshed,  but  by 
provocation  and  encroachment  from  the 
whites,  being  furnished  with  arms,  am- 
munition and  whisky,  they  have  become 
treacherous,  cruel  and  bloodthirsty.  Dall 
says  that  up  to  his  visit  in  1866—67  "mis- 
sionary efforts  among  the  tribes  of  Cen- 
tral Alaska  had  resulted  in  little,  because, 

8 


114  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

the  languages  not  being  understood,  in- 
struction was  given  in  a  trading  jargon 
unsuitable  for  conveying  religious  ideas, 
especially  to  a  people  so  intensely  igno- 
rant and  so  little  comprehending  principles 
of  rio^ht  and  wrono-. 

"  When  the  missionary,"  says  Dall,  "  will 
leave  the  trading-posts,  strike  out  into  the 
wilderness,  live  in  the  wilderness,  live 
with  the  Indians,  teach  them  cleanliness 
first,  morality  next,  and  by  slow  and  sim- 
ple teaching  raise  their  minds  above  the 
hunt  and  the  camp, — then,  and  not  till 
then,  they  will  be  able  to  comprehend 
the  simplest  principles  of  right  and  wrong. 
.  .  .  The  Indian,  unchanged  by  contact  with 
the  whites,  is  in  mind  a  child  without  the 
trusting  affection  of  childhood  and  with 
the  will  and  passions  of  a  man.  .  .  .  One 
fact  may  be  unhesitatingly  avowed :  if  he 
obtain   intoxicating  liquors,  he  is  lost." 

This  was  a  view  of  the  condition  of  the 
Alaskan  Indians  in  the  year  of  the  pur- 
chase by  the  United  States.  The  pur- 
chase was  made,  and,  in  place  of  law, 
government,    schools   and    teachers,   igno- 


THE    CHURCH  A  WAKES.  1 1  5 

ranee,  lawlessness  and  intemperance  were 
for  ten  years  the  order  of  the  day. 

It  was  just  ten  years  after  Dall  drew 
the  above  picture  that  Dr.  Jackson  and 
Mrs.  McFarland  landed  in  Alaska.  Fort 
Wrangell  was  the  outpost,  and  here  work 
was  to  begin.  There  was  no  time  nor 
money  for  further  explorations  of  the  field; 
the  one  question  of  these  missionaries  was 
whether  they  could  hold  this  position.  From 
the  earliest  days  evangelists  have  been 
sent  out  two  and  two ;  but  when  our 
Alaskan  missions  opened,  one  missionary 
— a  woman — was  for  seven  months  the 
only  Christian  teacher  in  the  Territory, 
and  for  five  months  more  she  was  unaid- 
ed in  Fort  Wrang-ell. 

The  first  work  before  Mrs.  McFarland 
was  to  enlaro-e  and  reorg-anize  the  school. 
Philip,  rejoiced  to  see  at  last  the  promised 
face  of  a  gospel  messenger,  readily  agreed 
to  become  her  assistant.  The  only  room 
obtainable  was  an  old  dance-house,  which 
would  be  taken  from  them  as  soon  as 
winter  brought  the  return  of   the  miners. 

The  stock  of  books  was  inventoried  as 


Il6  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

four  Bibles,  four  hymn-books,  three  primers, 
thirteen  First  Readers,  one  wall-chart.  The 
books  were  in  English,  and  the  pupils  most- 
ly spoke  Chinook  or  trading  jargon  or  In- 
dian, neither  of  which  the  teacher  under- 
stood. 

The  steamer  that  passed  up  the  Stick- 
een  River  after  the  missionaries  arrived 
conveyed  the  welcome  tidings  of  their 
coming.  The  news  fell  on  the  ears  of 
Sarah  Dickinson,  a  converted  Indian,  who, 
with  her  children,  was  a  hundred  miles 
up  the  river  gathering  berries  for  her  win- 
ter supply.  She  put  berries,  babies  and 
bedding  in  her  canoe  and  paddled  down 
the  river  with  all  speed  to  welcome  the 
white  teachers.  This  woman  spoke  Eng- 
lish, and  Dr.  Jackson  engaged  her  as  Mrs. 
McFarland's  interpreter. 

Thus,  then,  our  first  missionary  in  Alas- 
ka was  left.  She  had  a  native  assistant 
teacher,  an  interpreter,  twenty-seven  books, 
and  no  schoolroom.  She  was  the  only 
Christian  white  woman  in  the  country;  it 
was  at  the  edge  of  winter,  and  a  steamer 
from  home  came  only  once  a  month. 


THE    CHURCH  AWAKES.  WJ 

We  can  dimly  imagine  some  of  her  feel- 
ings when  she  saw  the  vessel  carrying  Dr. 
Jackson  away  on  its  return  trip,  and  his  as 
he  left  her  to  her  fortunes. 

Probably  the  Church  in  the  United  States 
has  never  had  a  greater  surprise  than  when 
it  heard  that  work  in  Alaska  was  fairly  be- 
gun, and  that  a  cultivated  Presbyterian  lady 
was  left  there  to  begin  it. 

"What!"  was  the  cry  that  assailed  Dr. 
Jackson ;  "  did  you  leave  Mrs.  McFarland 
up  there  alone,  among  all  those  heathens 
— up  there  in  the  cold,  on  the  edge  of 
winter  ?" 

"  Yes,"  was  the  reply,  "  I  did ;  and  she 
has  neither  books,  nor  schoolhouse,  nor 
helpers,  nor  money,  nor  friends — only  a 
few  converted  but  morally  uninstructed 
Indians  and  a  great  many  heathen  about 
her.     Now,  what  will  you  do  for  her?" 

The  situation  awakened  an  enthusiasm 
that  has  had  few  parallels  in  modern 
Church  work. 

Having  returned  home,  Dr.  Jackson  pub- 
lished in  the  religious  papers  a  series  of 
articles  which  were  copied  into  the  secular 


Il8  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

journals  of  this  country  and  of  Europe, 
and  which  drew  much  attention  to  the 
work  so  bravely  begun  in  the  long-neg- 
lected Territory.  He  also  made  addresses 
in  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Washington 
and  other  principal  cities,  exhibiting  the 
importance,  the  promise  and  the  instant 
need  of  the  field.  Such  concern  was 
awakened — not  only  for  the  fate  of  the 
missionary  already  in  Alaska,  but  for  the 
perishing  natives — that  special  contribu- 
tions for  the  work  poured  in,  and  sup- 
port for  future  workers  was  guaranteed. 

The  students  of  the  theological  semi- 
naries were  addressed  by  him,  and  two 
offered  themselves  for  the  work ;  and  the 
Board  of  Home  Missions  appointed  them 
to  this  northern  field. 

However  much  the  Church  owed  Alas- 
ka in  fulfilling  the  Master's  orders,  "  Go 
ye  into  all  the  world,  and  preach  the  gos- 
pel to  every  creature,"  it  was  also  evident 
that  the  United  States  government  owed 
that  region  much  that  the  Church  could 
not  give,  as  laws,  protection  and  public 
education.    While  in  Washington,  Dr.  Jack- 


THE    CHURCH  AWAKES.  II9 

son  had  a  hearing  before  several  com- 
mittees of  Congress  in  behalf  of  laws, 
government  and  schools  for  Alaska,  and 
commenced  an  agitation  which  will  event- 
ually result  in  securing  these  objects.  In 
the  mean  time,  single-handed  and  almost 
entirely  unprovided  with  appliances  for 
work,  Mrs.  McFarland  entered  heartily 
into  her  task,  her  own  zeal  and  that  of 
her  pupils  supplying  the  lack  of  ordinary 
means  and  methods.  The  Indians  ex- 
hibited great  readiness  in  learning  and 
were  quick  in  acquiring  English, 

One  evening  two  girls  were  observed 
walking  on  the  beach  and  loudly  repeat- 
ing something.  It  was  found  that,  lacking 
books  and  resolved  to  learn  to  spell,  they 
had  secured  a  bit  of  old  newspaper  and 
were  committing  to  memory  the  words 
found  on  it.  Again,  two  boys  in  a  canoe 
were  noticed  alternately  declaiming  some- 
thing. One  of  them  was  orally  teaching 
the  other  the  Lord's  Prayer.  Sentence 
by  sentence  he  gave  it  loudly,  as  Philip 
delivered  it  to  the  school,  and  the  other 
boy  repeated  it,  until  he  was  able  to  say 


I20  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

it  through  to  the  end.     Thus   the  lack  of 
books  was  in  a  measure  made  up. 

Dr.  Jackson  left  Alaska  in  September. 
The  military  force  had  been  withdrawn 
from  Fort  Wrangell  previous  to  the  ar- 
rival of  Mrs.  McFarland,  thus  depriving 
her  of  any  protection  which  their  presence 
afforded.  She  was  left  with  a  few  whites 
and  one  thousand  Indians  in  a  place  with- 
out law,  order  or  government. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

FJ^ OGRESS   AT  FORT   WRANGELL. 

IT  would  take  a  much  more  voluminous 
work  than  the  present  to  detail  the 
opening  of  each  of  our  mission  stations 
in  Alaska,  the  methods  pursued  and  the 
resulting  success.  Our  principle  must  be  ex 
Mfio  disce  omnes :  we  choose  several  work- 
centres  and  describe  a  portion  of  their 
experiences — Fort  Wrangell,  as  the  prim- 
ary point,  where  all  was  to  be  experiment- 
ed ;  Sitka,  as  the  capital ;  Haines,  as  provi- 
dentially the  scene  of  unusual  hardships 
and  unusual  heroism  even  where  so  much 
was  heroic.  Other  missions  we  shall  also 
more  briefly  note,  while  feeling  assured 
that  what  is  left  untold  is  quite  as  mar- 
velous, interesting  and  soul-stirring  as  that 
which  is  told — that  the  missionaries  whose 
path  of  labor  is  not  minutely  followed  have 

121 


122  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

worked  as  admirably  and  successfully  and 

self-sacrificingly  as    those  whose  steps  we 

trace. 

On     the     28th    of    August,    1877,    Mrs. 

McFarland  opened  her  school  in  Wran- 
gell  with  about  thirty  pupils.  Philip  and 
Sarah  Dickinson  studied  together  in  the 
forenoon — reading,  spelling,  writing  and 
geography.  In  them  Mrs.  McFarland 
was  striving  to  prepare  future  helpers 
and  teachers.  As  there  were  almost  no 
books,  oral  instruction  was  largely  used ; 
thus,  Bible-texts,  commandments,  the  Lord's 
Prayer,  and  also  the  multiplication  table, 
were  laboriously  taught  by  repetition. 
Singing  the  Indians  delight  in,  learning 
tunes  readily. 

Philip  taught  the  afternoon  school  and 
preached,  using  the  Tsimpsean  dialect,  Sarah 
Dickinson  translating  it  into  Stickeen.  Mrs. 
McFarland  naively  remarks  concerning  his 
preaching  that  he  was  most  fluent  in  Chi- 
nook, "but  the  people  did  not  seem  to 
understand  his  sermons  in  it."  No  doubt 
they  did  not,  for  the  jargon  is  not  a  vehicle 
suited  to  conveying  religious  ideas. 


■PROGRESS  AT  FORT  WRANGELL.         12$ 

Philip  sent  for  his  wife  and  hired  a  htde 
house,  devoting-  himself  with  great  assi- 
duity to  his  work ;  but  already  a  fatal  dis- 
ease was  making  rapid  inroads  on  his 
strenofth. 

On  the  15th  of  September  the  dance- 
house  was  taken  for  its  original  purposes 
and  the  school  turned  out;  an  old  log 
house,  at  the  exorbitant  price  of  twenty 
dollars  a  month,  was  all  that  could  be 
secured.  Mrs.  McFarland  rented  a  little 
house  for  herself,  and  devoted  her  woman- 
ly ingenuity  to  making  it  home-like.  She 
had  no  sooner  moved  into  this  dwelling 
than  one  or  two  Indian  girls  requested 
to  be  permitted  to  live  with  her.  She  had 
neither  room  nor  furnishings  to  accommo- 
date them,  and  reluctantly  declined  to  keep 
them.  To  her  horror,  in  a  few  days  she 
found  that  the  brightest  of  these  girls — 
only  a  little  past  childhood — had  been 
carried  off  to  live  with  one  of  the  law- 
less white  men  of  the  neighborhood.  At 
once  it  was  made  clear  to  the  missionary 
that  she  must  have  a  house  prepared  for 
a  home  of  refuge  for  these  homeless  girls, 


126  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

where  they  could  Hve  in  safety  and  do 
right.  Then  arose  her  first  earnest  and 
insistent  demand  on  the  Church  for  a 
home-school — a  demand  which  she  never 
ceased  pressing  until  she  secured  the  need- 
ed boon. 

With  this  need  of  a  home  was  shortly 
presented  another  need — that  of  a  min- 
ister or  magistrate  to  perform  the  mar- 
riage ceremony.  Even  the  Christian  In- 
dians and  their  so-called  wives  had  never 
been  married.  Separations  had  been  com- 
mon among  these  people,  and  as  they  be- 
came more  enlightened  these  unfortunate 
domestic  relations  troubled  them.  They 
referred  all  difficulties  to  their  missionary ; 
and  Mrs.  McFarland,  while  judging  among 
them  with  admirable  good  sense,  redoubled 
her  entreaties,  sent  through  the  columns 
of  the  Rocky  Mountain  Presbyterian  to  the 
Church  at  home,  that  an  ordained  minis- 
ter should  be  speedily  sent  to  Alaska. 

About  the  ist  of  October,  Mrs.  McFar- 
land opened  a  sewing-school  in  the  after- 
noons for  the  women  and  the  laro-er  eirls  : 
in  this  school  there  was  an  excellent  com- 


PROGRESS  AT  FORT  WRANGELL.  I  27 

binine  of   moral   and   reliorious  instruction 
with  sewing-lessons.     A  verse  of  Scripture 

*  was  taken,  and  as  they  worked  the  pupils 
memorized  it  by  constant  repetitions  after 
their  teacher.  Mrs.  McFarland  orave  them 
plain  practical  instruction  about  their  moral 

•  and  domestic  duties,  and  closed  the  meet- 
ing with  singing  and  prayer.  She  found 
that  so  much  home-teaching  was  needed 
to  civilize  the  people  and  inculcate  any- 
thing like  morality  and  decency  of  living 
that  she  entreated  that  a  teacher  might  be 
sent  to  the  school,  and  she  herself  be  free 
to  go  among  the  families,  teaching  them 
cleanliness,  nursinor  the  care  of  children 
and  the  amenities  of  domestic  life. 

On  the  15th  of  October  a  great  mis- 
fortune befell  the  strue£^line  mission  :  Phil- 
ip  had  a  severe  hemorrhage,  and  was  never 
again  able  to  share  in  the  labors  he  loved. 
Three  young  men  had  come  from  Fort 
Simpson  and  entered  the  school ;  one  of 
these,  Andrew,  was  a  Methodist  exhorter, 
and  he  endeavored  to  fill  Clah's  place.  A 
number  of  cases  of  sickness  occurred,  and 
Mrs.  McFarland  was  chief  nurse  and  doc- 


128  AMONG    THE   ALASA'ANS. 

tor,  performing  the  work  of  four  or  five 
people.  Sarah  Dickinson,  the  interpreter, 
was  ill ;  and  when  the  steamer  came  up,  the 
Indians  crowded  to  the  dock  to  see  "  if  a 
white  preacher  had  come,"  and  went  away 
sorrowful  because  no  one  had  appeared. 

On  the  loth  of  November  a  Hydah 
Indian  came  into  the  school ;  at  forty-five 
years  of  age  he  had  come  to  learn  to  read, 
so  that  he  might  teach  his  people.  Here 
was  courage.  The  next  day,  with  tears 
running  down  his  face,  another  fine-look- 
inor  middle-aored  Indian  came  to  the  school 
and  said, 

"  Me  much  sick  at  heart.  My  people 
all  dark  heart ;  nobody  tell  them  that 
Jesus  died.  By  and  by  my  people  all 
die  and  go  down.     Dark,  dark !" 

Still  no  help  came  from  the  East,  and 
the  missionary  could  only  comfort  these 
pleaders  with  promises,  which  they  were 
beginning  to  disbelieve. 

In  this  pressure  of  work,  care  and  dis- 
appointment Mrs.  McFarland  was  much 
comforted  by  the  kindness  of  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Vanderbilt. 


PROGRESS  AT  FORT  WRANGELL. 


129 


Christmas  was  darkened  by  die  shadow 
of  deadi.  On  die  28di  of  December, 
PhiHp    died,    at    the    age    of    thirty.      His 


SARAH   DICKINSON,    THE  INTERPRETER. 

Indian  friends  contributed  money  for  his 
coffin  and  conveyed  his  remains  back  to 
Fort  Simpson,  among  his  own  tribe,  where 
he  was  buried  beside  his  mother  and  his 
three  brothers.  His  last  wish  was  that 
his  wife  should  be  cared  for  by  the  Ameri- 
can Church.  It  was  nearly  three  years 
before  this  dying  wish  met  any  response. 


130  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

In  spite  of  the  sadness  occasioned  by 
Philip's  low  state,  there  was  an  effort  to 
celebrate  Christmas.  Early  in  the  morn- 
ing some  sixty  Indians  came  before  Mrs. 
McFarland's  house  and  sang-  two  hymns. 
About  nine  o'clock  a  procession  was  formed, 
and,  having  no  United  States  flag,  the  lead- 
er carried  a  British  ensign  ;  the  standard- 
bearer  was  much  decorated  with  flowers 
and  tinsel.  The  procession  shook  hands 
with  their  teacher  and  wished  her  a  "  Mer- 
ry Christmas,"  leaving  her  with  hope  and 
gratitude  in  her  heart,  and  a  resolve  that 
next  Christmas  she  would  have  a  celebra- 
tion  for  them. 

The  holidays,  however,  were  dangerous 
and  uproarious  from  drunkenness ;  great 
quantities  of  whisky  had  been  made  in 
private  stills,  and  the  lower  class  of  the 
whites  and  the  "whisky-Indians"  kept  up 
horrible  orgies.  Finally,  Mr.  Dennis,  port 
collector  of  customs,  selected  a  posse  of 
men  and  made  a  raid  on  suspected  places, 
finding  and  breaking  up  eight  new  dis- 
tilleries. Eighteen  in  all  were  destroyed 
within  a  short  time. 


FN  OGRESS  AT  FORT  WRANGELL.  13I 

In  the  utter  lawlessness  of  the  country 
the  increasing  liquor  evils  demanded  re- 
dress, and  in  January,  1878,  the  Christian 
Indians  requested  some  form  of  govern- 
ment. The  military  had  been  withdrawn, 
life  and  property  were  without  protection 
and  grievances  had  no  remedy.  Matthew, 
Moses  and  Toy-a-att  were  the  leaders 
amonor  the  Christian  Indians.  Shustaks 
was  the  leader  of  the  heathen  Indians, 
and  was  hostile  to  the  missionary. 

The  Christian  Indians  appointed  the 
above-named  chiefs  as  a  police,  and  for 
a  time  their  authority  was  respected  ;  but 
Shustaks  raised  opposition  to  them,  and 
to  secure  an  expression  of  popular  opinion 
a  meeting  was  called  in  the  schoolhouse. 
Mrs.  McFarland  was  invited  to  preside, 
and  Mr.  Dennis  was  requested  to  be  pres- 
ent. Both  of  these  argued  with  Shustaks, 
and  Toy-a-att  preached  him  a  telling  ser- 
mon ;  but  Shustaks  left  the  meeting  in 
anger.  The  Indians  signed  a  few  rules 
or  laws  written  for  them  by  Mrs.  McFar- 
land. Shustaks  continued  his  hostility,  but 
was  prevented  from   overt  acts  of   opposi- 


132  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

tion  by  the  arrival  of  a  revenue-cutter  in 
the  bay.  Mr.  Vanderbilt  had  now  secured 
the  dance-house  to  the  school. 

The  need  of  a  home-school  for  girls  was 
more  and  more  evident.  As  soon  as  Mrs. 
McFarland's  instructions  had  secured  the 
personal  improvement  of  the  young  girls, 
making  them  bright  in  manner  and  tidy 
in  dress  and  person,  their  superior '  ap- 
pearance attracted  the  attention  of  scoun- 
drels who  at  once  tried  to  buy  them  of 
their  heathen  parents,  and  thus  again  and 
again  promising  pupils  were  carried  off 
for  vice  and  misery.  But  now  two  of 
these  girls  disappeared  from  the  school, 
and  word  was  brought  Mrs.  McFarland 
that  they  had  been  accused  of  witchcraft 
and  were  being  tortured.  In  agony  of 
mind  she  set  out  to  release  them.  The 
school  implored  her  not  to  go : 

"  They  are  having  a  devil-dance,  and 
will  kill  you." 

Shustaks  had  threatened  her  life,  and 
would  now  take  it.  Sarah  Dickinson  threw 
her  arms  around  her,  and,  weeping,  de- 
clared she  was  going  to  her  death. 


PROGRESS  AT  FORT  VVRANGELL.  1 33 

The  converted  Indians,  at  other  times 
so  bold,  shrank  from  intermeddhng-  with 
the  madness  of  a  devil-dance,  and  warned 
her  to  desist  from  a  hopeless  errand  ;  but 


ALASKAN    GIRL,   TATTOOED. 

Up  the  beach,  alone,  hurried  that  Christian 
teacher  to  where  her  two  poor  girls  were 
bound  hand  and  foot,  stripped  naked,  in 
the  centre  of  fifty  dancing  and  frantic 
fiends,  who  with  yells  cut  the  victims  with 


134  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

knives  and  tore  out  pieces  of  their  flesh. 
Forcing  her  way  to  the  side  of  the  captives, 
in  spite  of  threats  and  execrations,  Mrs. 
McFarland  stood  warning  and  pleading, 
and  threatenino-  them  with  the  wrath  of 
the  United  States,  and  after  hours  of  daunt- 
less persistency  cowed  the  wretches  and 
took  off  the  half-dead  girls.  During  the 
night  one  of  them  was  recaptured  and 
killed.  To  rescue  helpless  young  women 
from  such  atrocities  a  home  must  be 
provided. 

The  I  St  of  March,  Bishop  Bombas,  of 
the  Episcopal  Church,  passed  through  Fort 
Wrangell,  approved  heartily  of  the  plan 
for  a  home,  and  left  a  small  donation — 
the  first  contribution  to  that  admirable 
work. 

On  the  15th  of  March  arrived  Mr.  Brady, 
commissioned  to  Sitka.  Mr.  Brady  made 
a  short  stay  at  Wrangell,  preaching  and 
visitine  the  school.  He  also,  on  Sabbath 
morning,  at  the  church  service,  married 
Toy-a-att  and  Moses,  two  of  the  Christian 
Indians,  to  their  respective  wives.  On 
Monday    these    two    couples    had   a    wed- 


PROGRESS  AT  FORT  WRANGELL.  135 

ding-feast  in  very  respectable  style,  a  num- 
ber of  chiefs  of  other  tribes  being  present, 


AlASKAN    WOMAN':    TATTOOING    INDICATIVE   OF    HIGH    RANK. 

and  earnest  requests  were  made  for  more 
missionaries.  Also,  on  Monday,  Mr.  Brady 
was  sent  for  to  conduct  a  funeral.  The 
family  stated  that  they  had  meant  to  burn 
the  body  with  heathen  ceremonies,  but 
now,  as  they  "  had  a  *  white  missionary- 
man  '   among   them,    they   should    make   a 


136  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

hole  in  the  ground  and  bury  their  dead 
as  white  folks  did."  In  the  evening  an 
Indian  dance  was  exhibited,  after  which 
Toy-a-att  declared  that  they  had  all  danced 
their  last  dance :  from  henceforth  they 
would  be  Christian  Indians  and  serve 
God. 

In  June,  Shaaks,  the  head-chief,  died, 
and  was  laid  out  in  state.  After  a  con- 
ference as  to  whether  they  should  bury 
or  burn  the  body,  they  agreed  to  bury, 
if  Mrs.  McFarland  would  conduct  the 
funeral.  To  this  she  consented.  Shaaks's 
successor  promised  to  join  the  Christian 
Indians. 

The  steamer  California,  coming  up  June 
13th,  brought  no  missionary,  and  the  In- 
dians, gathering  about  Mrs.  McFarland — 
herself  sadly  disappointed — cried, 

"  How  many  moons  now  till  the  preacher 
shall  come  ?  Sick  !  sick  at  heart  am  I ! 
By  and  by  all  Indians  dead !  Sick !  sick 
at  heart!" 

Sure  that  the  longed-for  preacher  would 
arrive  by  the  July  steamer,  the  school- 
girls cleaned  up  the   house  and   the   men 


PHOGKESS  AT  FORT  WRANGELL.  1 3/ 

and  boys  trimmed  it  beautifully  with  ever- 
greens. They  had  expected  to  have  a 
church  built  that  season,  and  it  was  grow- 
ing late.  The  steamer  came,  but  no  mis- 
sionary. 

"No  use!"  cried  the  Indians;  "we  will 
do  no  more.  No  one  is  coming  at  all ! 
no  one  cares  for  us!" 

To  supply  all  this  lack  of  service,  Mrs. 
McFarland  had  been  since  spring  con- 
ducting two  schools,  one  for  the  wild  na- 
tives up  the  beach,  who  would  not  enter 
the  town.  Sixty  attended  this  school,  in 
an  old  log  building,  and  were  taught  from 
the  blackboard.  These  Indians  soon  asked 
for  Sabbath-afternoon  services,  which  Mrs. 
McFarland  held. 

Making  a  trip  by  steamer  to  Sitka,  Mrs. 
McFarland  found  the  mission  there  pro- 
gressing happily,  and  all  along  the  route 
was  met  by  the  same  urgent  appeal : 

"  Why  cannot  we  have  a  teacher  and  a 
preacher  ?" 

The  August  steamer  brought  happiness 
to  Fort  Wrangell.  The  Rev.  S.  Hall  Young 
of    Parkersburg,    West   Virginia,    commis- 


138  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

sioned  by  the  Home  Mission  Board  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  arrived  to  take  chart^e 
of  the  Fort  Wrangell  wori^:. 

Mr.  Vanderbilt  provided  for  Mrs.  McFar- 
land  an  old  building  which  had  been  a  Rus- 
sian hospital,  with  a  view  to  her  starting- 
her  home  for  girls.  The  miners  would  soon 
be  back  in  town  for  the  winter,  and  the  pur- 
chase of  the  girls  from  their  heathen  friends 
would  begin.  There  was  not  a  particle 
of  furniture  or  bedding  for  the  proposed 
refuge,  nor,  indeed,  money  for  provisions ; 
there  was  neither  clothing  nor  means  to 
buy  clothing. 

Mr.  Young  preached  to  the  white  people 
every  Sunday  afternoon,  taught  the  school 
during  the  week,  collected  funds  for  a 
church,  buried  the  dead,  instructed  an 
adult  class,  performed  marriages  among 
the  Christian  Indians  and  maintained  the 
battle  with  "  witchcraft,"  one  of  the  forms 
of  their  heathenism  hardest  to  be  eradi- 
cated. Mrs.  McFarland  devoted  herself 
to  the  girls,  to  sewing-school,  to  domestic 
instruction  and  to  visitation  from  house 
to  house. 


PROGRESS  AT  FORT  VVRANGELL.  1 39 

Dr.  Jackson,  on  his  part,  was  imploring 
of  the  Church  in  the  United  States  money 
for  the  home,  and  more  teachers.  As 
another  result  of  his  labors,  in  September 
the  good  news  reached  Mrs.  McFarland 
that  Miss  Dunbar,  from  Steubenville,  Ohio, 
would  soon  arrive  at  Fort  Wrangell  to  aid 
in  the  school. 

Meantime,  we  may  say  that  the  home- 
school  started  itself. 

Katy,  a  bright  girl  of  fourteen,  who  had 
been  for  a  year  in  school,  had  a  heathen 
mother.  This  mother,  as  Mrs.  Dickinson 
learned,  intended  to  take  the  girl  up  the 
river  and  sell  her.  Mrs.  McFarland,  by 
hours  of  earnest  entreaty,  secured,  as  she 
supposed,  the  abandonment  of  this  mon- 
strous plan  ;  but  the  very  next  week  the 
mother  endeavored  to  force  the  despairing 
girl  into  the  canoe  that  would  carry  her 
to  ruin.  The  child  fled  to  the  woods,  but 
in  the  night  found  her  way  to  Mrs.  McFar- 
land's  little  abode  and  threw  herself  on  her 
protection.  She  had  come  to  stay  !  Three 
other  girls  at  once  claimed  the  shelter  which 
their  schoolmate    had    found.      The    home 


I40  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

was  begun.  Its  inmates  slept  in  their 
blankets  on  the  bare  floor.  They  had 
not  a  change  of  clothings  Like  the  birds, 
they  had  neither  barn  nor  storehouse,  and 
yet  said  they  were  happy. 

While  work  was  thus  multiplying  for 
Mrs.  McFarland,  Mr.  Young  found  him- 
self, at  the  outset  of  his  mission,  con- 
fronted by  witchcraft  demonstrations  in 
an  agraravated  form.  The  Indians  of  the 
North  Pacific  coast  are  victims  of  a  belief 
in  witchcraft.  Dall  says  they  do  not  be- 
lieve in  a  god,  but  in  demoniacal  spirits. 
Bancroft  writes :  "  Thick  black  clouds,  por- 
tentous of  evil,  hang  threateningly  over  the 
savage  during  his  entire  life."  All  misfor- 
tunes, all  sickness,  all  death,  the  Indians 
look  upon  as  the  result  of  witchcraft. 
None  of  these  things  have,  to  them,  nat- 
ural causes.  The  witchcraft  being  ac- 
cepted as  a  fact,  the  first  proceeding  is 
to  point  out  the  witch.  Here  friendship, 
good  character,  helplessness — any  circum- 
stances proving  innocence — are  absolutely 
without  weight  against  the  bare  assertion 
of  the  shaman.     The  accusation  is  virtual 


PROGRESS  AT  FORT  WRANGELL.  I4I 

condemnation :  the  finger  of  suspicion 
pointed  is  the  sentence  of  death,  and 
that  by  some  aggravated  form  of  torture. 
Envy,  jealousy,  revenge — all  the  worst 
passions — can  gratify  themselves  in  this 
fury  of  witchcraft.  The  shaman  has  only 
to  dislike  one  or  to  be  bribed  by  some 
wretch  to  proceed  against  the  object  of 
his  secret  enmity,  and  that  unhappy  creat- 
ure is  doomed.  Against  these  enormities 
of  witchcraft  the  i\merican  government 
has  issued  no  laws  and  offered  no  pro- 
tection. Americans  have  cried  loudly 
aeainst  Great  Britain  that  she  formerly 
permitted  infanticide,  suttees  and  self-tor- 
ture to  pass  unrebuked  in  India  for  a 
long  period  of  years ;  but  we,  as  a  na- 
tion, are  permitting  these  very  crimes  in 
a  territory  much  nearer  the  seat  of  gov- 
ernment and  a  thousand  times  easier  to 
control  than  is  India. 

No  sooner  had  a  large  body  of  Indians 
made  some  progress  in  civilization,  at- 
tended schools  and  professed  themselves 
Christians  than  the  witchcraft  excitement 
broke    forth    with    redoubled    fury.      The 


142  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

Christians  were  to  be  accused  of  causing 
all  sickness  or  death  that  occurred.  We 
have  seen  how  two  of  the  schoolgirls 
were  seized  and  tortured.  Frequently, 
accused  persons  commit  suicide  to  es- 
cape from  torments  and  a  lingering  death. 
This  diabolism  of  witchcraft  Mr.  Young 
resolved  boldly  to  face. 

Old  Shustaks's  wife  fell  ill,  and  Shustaks 
accused  a  Christian  Indian  of  being  "  bad 
medicine  "  to  her.  They  caught  this  man, 
carried  him  to  Shustaks,  stripped  and  bound 
him  and  crowded  him  into  a  hole  in  the 
ground.  Mr.  Young  and  Mr.  Dennis  went 
to  Shustaks,  firmly  insisted  on  the  release 
of  the  victim,  and  warned  the  Indians  that 
no  one  must  be  tied  up  as  a  witch  without 
first  accusino;-  him  before  Mr.  Youna  and 
Mr.  Dennis.  Securing  this,  they  could 
prevent  secret  and  hasty  torture. 

The  Indians,  encouraged  by  finding  a 
defender  in  their  new  missionary,  went 
eagerly  to  work,  and  out  of  their  poverty 
raised  nearly  six  hundred  dollars  for  be- 
ginning the  new  church-building. 

In   December,  Mr.  Young  was   married 


PJiOGRESS  AT  FORT  WRANGELL.  I43 

to  Miss  Kelloo-^',  of  the  Sitka  mission,  and 
thus  one  more  was  added  to  the  httle 
band  at  Wrangell.  Immediately  after  this 
came  Christmas,  celebrated  as  on  the  pre- 
ceding year,  and  within  a  few  days  the 
Indians  had  several  marriagfes  "  in  United 
States  fashion,"  with  church  ceremonies 
and  weddinof-feasts.  Mrs.  Young^'s  friends 
in  the  East  sent  her  large  boxes  of  gifts 
for  a  Christmas  tree,  which  was  set  up 
for  the  school  Indians,  and  each  one  got 
a  present,  though  the  guests  came  by 
hundreds. 

At  this  time  the  columns  of  the  Rocky 
Mo2uitain  Presbyterian,  and  also  those  of 
many  other  Presbyterian  papers,  were  filled 
with  urgent  representations  of  the  needs 
of  the  industrial  home  at  Fort  Wrangell. 
Money  began  to  come  in  freely  for  the 
work,  and  in  February  several  well-filled 
boxes  arrived  at  Wrangell,  with  clothes, 
bedding  and  other  necessaries  for  the 
institution.  Then  an  organ  safely  reached 
them,  and  in  March  letters  announcine 
that  the  money  required  was  furnished, 
and    that    the    Rev.    Dr.    Henry    Kendall, 


144  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

secretary  of  the  Presbyterian  Board  of 
Home  Missions,  and  a  missionary  teach- 
er, would  be  in  Wrangell  in  June  and  the 
new  building-  should  be  commenced.  But, 
however  fast  the  gifts  came  for  the  home, 
the  girls  came  faster  with  their  pitiful  tales 
and  their  terrible  needs,  and  still  they  were 
taken  in,  before  food  or  clothes,  or  even 
shelter,  could  be  assured. 

In  June,  1879,  the  mission  was  rein- 
forced by  the  arrival  of  Dr.  Corlies  of 
Philadelphia,  with  his  wife  and  child.  In- 
dependent of  societies,  this  devoted  couple 
had  gone  forth  to  establish  a  mission  at 
their  own  charges  in  the  place  that  seemed 
to  be  in  the  most  need.  It  was  decided 
that  Dr.  Corlies  should  remain  at  Wran- 
gell  as  a  missionary  physician.  Mrs.  Cor- 
lies opened  a  school,  which,  in  spite  of 
many  disadvantages,  has  proved  largely 
useful.  She  chose  to  work  amongst  the 
"  visitinor  Indians,"  or  tribes  who  came 
from  the  interior  to  trade,  spending  only 
a  small  portion  of  her  time  in  P'ort 
Wrangell.  The  disadvantage  in  this  form 
of   work   was   that  she    had  a  constantly- 


PROGRESS  AT  FORT  WRANGELL.  I45 

changing  succession  of  pupils.  The  school 
was  always  full,  as  visiting  Indians  were 
plenty  at  every  season  of  the  year,  but 
each  pupil  was  present  but  a  short  time. 
The  advantage  gained,  however,  compen- 
sated for  this  difficulty :  the  visiting  In- 
dians came  from  far;  they  learned  some- 
thing at  the  school,  got  some  view  of  the 
cross  and  the  love  of  Christ,  and,  return- 
ing home,  the  school  and  its  teachings 
were  the  chief  wonders  they  had  to  re- 
late of  Fort  Wrangell.  Thus  a  way  has 
been  prepared  for  the  spread  of  the  gos- 
pel in  the  most  distant  tribes ;  requests 
for  teachers  have  come ;  missionaries  have 
been  welcomed,  and  have  found  hearts 
prepared  for  their  work  through  the  in- 
fluence of  Mrs.  Corlies's  school  for  the 
transients. 

On  the  14th  of  July,  1879,  Dr.  and  Mrs. 
Kendall,  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Jackson,  Dr.  and 
Mrs.  Lindsley  of  Portland,  Oregon,  and 
Miss  Dunbar,  arrived  at  Fort  Wrangell 
and  made  a  white  day  in  its  mission-story. 
Miss  Dunbar  "  came  to  stay  ;"  Dr.  Jackson 
brought  the  money  he  had  raised  for  the 
10 


146  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

erection  of  the  home.  Dr.  Kendall  won 
the  hearts  of  the  Indians,  and  the  various 
chiefs  called  on  him  as  a  "great  chief." 
Dr.  Lindsley  found  his  interest  in  Alaska 
fully  justified  by  the  extent  and  promise 
of  the  field  and  by  the  results  already 
harvested. 

On  the  3d  of  August  a  church  was  or- 
cranized.  Eiofhteen  Indians  were  received 
on  profession  of  their  faith  after  a  close 
examination,  which  was  a  monument  of 
God's  blessing  on  the  faithful  labors  of  the 
missionaries.  A  special  benediction  seemed 
to  rest  on  the  home  from  its  very  founda- 
tion ;  two  of  the  carpenters  who  were  em- 
ployed in  building  it  were  received  into  the 
newly-organized  church  upon  profession  of 
faith. 

The  church-building  was  completed,  so 
as  to  be  occupied  for  worship,  October  5, 

1879. 

The  missionaries  were  very  busy.  Two 
hours  a  day  were  devoted  to  studying  the 
Indian  tongue  with  Mrs.  Dickinson  ;  school 
for  the  Indians  was  held  five  hours  daily. 
On  Friday  afternoon   the  entire  school  be- 


PROGRESS  AT  FORT  WRANGELL.  1 49 

came  an  industrial  class :  the  boys  sawed 
the  wood  for  the  coming  week  ;  the  girls 
were  taught  sewing  and  knitting ;  and  a 
singing  lesson  was  given  to  all. 

The  Indians  were  now  crowding  in  from 
the  fishing-  and  the  hunting-grounds,  and 
parents  accompanied  their  children  to 
school  and  entered  classes  with  them.  At 
the  home  were  twenty  girls,  who,  besides 
attending  day-school,  were  taught  domes- 
tic labors.  They  learned  to  wash,  iron,  cook 
and  bake,  and  showed  great  aptitude  for 
housework. 

Dall  mentions  that  many  of  the  Indian 
women  had  naturally  dignified  and  lady- 
like manners,  and  we  find  that  these  o-irls 
at  the  home,  who  had  never  before  eaten 
at  a  table  nor  slept  in  a  decent  bed,  made 
rapid  advancement  in  the  manners  of  civ- 
ilized life.  They  learned  to  sweep,  dust, 
make  beds,  clean,  scrub,  wash  dishes  and 
set  and  clear  off  a  table,  and  were  in  all 
thinofs  instructed  to  conduct  a  household 
with  decency  and  economy.  Mrs.  McFar- 
land  was  in  them  building  up  the  future 
home-life  of  Alaska. 


150  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

The  year  closed  with  many  encourage- 
ments. By  this  time  the  Alaska  mission 
and  the  "  McFarland  Industrial  Home  "  had 
become  of  the  dearest  interests  of  the 
Church,  Boxes  of  clothinof  and  domestic 
utensils  for  the  home  came  ;  the  girls  were 
comfortably  dressed  and  abundantly  cared 
for ;  gifts  for  Christmas  were  sent — enough 
for  the  whole  number  of  the  mission  In- 
dians. They  came  together  as  a  happy, 
thankful  family,  without  jealousy  at  the 
varied  values  of  their  gifts.  The  mis- 
sionaries had  Christmas  trees  for  the 
schools ;  Mr.  Young  made  an  address ; 
carols  were  sung,  and  the  story  of  the 
Babe  born  in  Bethlehem  was  told  and  re- 
told.    All  seemed   bright  and   hopeful. 

Over  this  joy  came  a  cloud  of  shame 
and  sorrow.  It  rose  where  rise  so  many 
evils  of  the  present  day — in  whisky.  The 
holidays  were  always,  in  Wrangell,  a  time 
for  aboundinor  drunkenness.  Mr.  Dennis 
had  appointed  the  most  reliable  Indians 
as  policemen,  giving  them  authority,  under 
United  States  revenue  customs  laws,  to 
seize  and  destroy  the  hoochinoos  or  whisky- 


PROGRESS  AT  FORT  VVRANGELL.  151 

Stills.  The  Stickeens  resident  at  Wrangell 
had  become  quite  temperate,  but  during 
the  holidays  numbers  of  Hoochinoo  Indians 
— chief  makers  of  the  liquor — crowded  to 
Fort  Wrangell,  and  when  their  stills  were 
seized  defended  them,  giving  Aaron,  one 
of  the  police,  a  black  eye.  Aaron  was  a 
Christian  Indian,  but  his  warlike  blood 
resented  this  insult.  The  Stickeens,  his 
tribe- friends,  urged  him  to  resent  it,  and, 
indeed,  thirty  of  them  went  up  to  the  Hoo- 
chinoos, but  unarmed,  and,  demanding  rep- 
aration, were  attacked.  In  the  fight  many 
Stickeens  were  bruised  and  wounded.  Dr. 
Corlies  dressed  their  wounds,  and  he  and 
Mr.  Young  persuaded  them  to  patience. 
The  Stickeens  agreed  to  forgive,  but  the 
Hoochinoos  drank  all  night,  and  in  the 
morning,  armed  and  in  war-paint,  appeared 
amonest  the  Stickeens  and  defied  them. 
Mr.  Young  rushed  between  the  contend- 
ing parties  and  drew  off  the  Stickeens. 
The  drunken  Hoochinoos  next  sacked  the 
house  of  Moses,  a  Christian  Stickeen,  and, 
as  the  Stickeens  rallied  to  protect  them- 
selves,  Moses  and   Toy-a-att,  two    of    the 


152  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

Christians,  were  shot  dead.  Toy-a-att's 
brother  was  next  killed,  and  seven  Stick- 
eens  were  wounded ;  two  of  the  Hoo- 
chinoos were  killed  and  several  wounded. 
The  white  men,  by  this  time  armed,  parted 
the  Indians,  broke  up  the  stills  and  estab- 
lished a  patrol-guard.  The  steamer  Cali- 
fornia came  from  Sitka,  bringing  some 
marines  of  the  Jamestown,  and  the  fight 
was  not  resumed. 

Commander  Beardslee,  of  the  James- 
town, seized  six  white  men,  makers  and 
sellers  of  hoochinoo  in  Wrangell  and 
Sitka,  and  sent  them  to  Pordand,  Oregon, 
where  they  were  lodged  in  the  peniten- 
tiary. 

After  the  dead  were  buried  and  the 
wounded  healed,  a  deep  feeling  of  re- 
pentance entered  into  the  little  church  of 
Indians.  Aaron,  who  had  been  carried 
away  by  his  anger,  publicly  professed  his 
sorrow,  and  the  after-effect  of  the  out- 
break seemed  to  be  a  great  turning  and 
overturning  on  the  part  of  the  principal 
Stickeens,  showing  them  the  evil  and  the 
danger  of  their  own  ways,  and  commending 


PROGRESS  AT  FORT  WRANGELL.  I  53 

the  peaceable  fruits  of  the  gospel.  The 
mission  began  to  prosper  with  unusual 
rapidity,  Katy  and  Minnie,  two  of  the 
home-eirls,  united  with  the  church ;  Dr. 
Jackson  and  Captain  Wilkinson  secured 
the  admission  of  some  of  the  children  to 
Forest  Grove  trainincr-school:  the  Wrano-ell 
schools  were  full. 

In  the  spring  of  1880  the  home-building 
was  completed,  and  the  school  took  glad 
possession  of  it.  Among  the  pupils  in 
this  home  one  or  two  deaths  occurred — 
deaths  of  peace  and  Christian  triumph, 
in  their  testimonies  ample  compensation 
for  all  that  the  Church  has  done  for  Alas- 
ka. Who  can  estimate  the  worth  of  a 
soul  ? 

In  November,  1880,  the  home  was  vis- 
ited by  a  number  of  miners  from  the 
Stickeen  mines,  who,  surprised  and  de- 
lighted at  the  improvement  of  the  chil- 
dren and  the  completeness  of  the  build- 
ing, presented  Mrs.  McFarland  with  fifty- 
one  dollars  and  a  half  as  a  contribution 
to  her  work.  In  this  month,  also,  means 
were  provided  for  the  purchase  of  a  canoe 


154  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

for  the  use  of  the  home.  The  Indian  girls 
all  know  how  to  manage  such  a  craft,  and, 
the  home  being  on  an  island,  it  was  often 
needed  and  could  be  rowed  by  the  girls. 
Besides,  rowing  is  one  of  the  necessary 
accomplishments  of  an  Indian  woman,  and 
by  its  education  the  home  should  not  make 
the  girls  in  any  respect  less  useful  wives. 
Where  there  are  no  railroads,  stages,  pub- 
lic roads  nor  steamers,  the  Indian  girl  or 
the  Indian  woman  must  know  how  to  pad- 
dle her  canoe  along  the  everywhere-abound- 
ing streams,  to  make  needful  journeys.  The 
canoe  was  a  great  comfort,  and  the  miners' 
gift  built  for  it  a  boat-house. 

Mr.  Young  was  visited  by  a  Mr.  Ballen 
tine,  from  the  mines,  who  orave  him  enough 
gold-dust  to  buy  lamps  for  the  schoolroom. 
The  Presbyterians  of  Troy  early  in  1881 
sent  a  good  bell  to  the  church ;  and  thus, 
in  one  way  and  another,  the  Lord  provid- 
ed for  the  needs  of  the  mission. 

In  December,  1880,  old  Shustaks,  long 
an  enemy  to  the  mission,  died,  and  his 
heir  was  Lot,  one  of  the  church-members. 
Shustaks   died    as    he   had    lived,    insisting 


PROGRESS  AT  FORT  WRANGELL.  I  55 

that  his  body  should  be  burned  lest  he 
be  cold  in  Stickagow,  and  that  cabbages 
should  also  be  burned,  so  that  he  might 
have  food  in  the  world  to  come.  Mr. 
Young  carefully  instructed  him  in  relig- 
ious things,  but  fruidessly ;  he  still  insisted 
that  "  he  was  always  afraid  of  cold,  and  he 
should  be  cold  in  Stickagow." 

The  great  need  that  in  1881  pressed 
upon  the  Fort  Wrangell  missionaries — and 
one  that  is  common  to  all  the  Alaskan  sta- 
tions— was  that  of  a  hospital.  The  sick, 
especially  the  old,  poor,  orphans  and  wid- 
ows, lie  in  the  most  terrible  destitution  and 
suffering.  Medical  attention  can  do  little 
in  the  face  of  cold,  filth,  hunger  and  gen- 
eral neelect.  Mrs.  Youncr  wrote  in  Pres- 
byteriafi  Home  Missions,  in  October,  1881, 
a  pressing  appeal  for  a  well-equipped  hos- 
pital at  Fort  Wrangell ;  her  description  of 
the  state  of  four  sick  Indian  women,  as 
given  in  this  earnest  appeal,  is  most 
harrowing.  She  says :  "  They  have  rested 
on  my  heart  so  heavily  that  at  night  I  have 
been  unable  to  sleep."  We  hope,  when 
such    needs    are    before    the    Church,    the 


156  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

Church  will   be  unable   to   sleep   night  or 
day  until  they  are  provided. 

On  the  3 1  St  of  December,  1 88 1 ,  Shaaks  in- 
vited all  the  missionaries  and  all  the  Stick- 
eens  to  a  feast;  the  canoe  sent  for  the 
missionaries  carried  United  States  flags. 
Shaaks  had  a  house  thirty-five  by  forty 
feet,  with  four  large  glass  windows  and 
a  half-glass  door.  The  house  is  provided 
with  wooden  seats  and  a  kitchen  curtained 
from  the  rest.  Shaaks  had  hired  a  cook, 
and  had  Indian  waiters  properly  provided 
with  white  aprons.  The  table  had  a  white 
cloth,  china  and  glass  dishes  neatly  ar- 
ranged, and  the  food  was  abundant,  good 
and  well  cooked.  All  was  clean  and  order- 
ly. The  Indians,  formerly  dirty  and  clad 
in  furs  and  blankets,  were  now  clean  and 
all  in  citizens'  dress.  Many  of  them  can 
speak  English,  and  a  large  number  of 
them  can  read ;  they  are  industrious  and 
self-supporting;  they  are  freed  from  their 
superstitions,  with  their  accompanying  cru- 
elties. Shaaks  stood  up  and  made  a  speech 
which  will  be  given  elsewhere,  in  our  speci- 
mens of  Indian  eloquence. 


PROGRESS  AT  FORT  WRANQELL.  15/ 

"  Four  years  ago,"  says  Dr.  Corlies,  writ- 
ing of  this  scene,  "  the  Alaska  Indians, 
dressed  in  skins  with  dog-  or  wolf-tails 
hanging  down,  danced  around  a  feast  of 
berries  cooked  with  fish  and  grease."  He 
then  describes  Shaaks's  feast  in  honor  of 
the  coming  of  1882,  and  adds:  "These 
are  some  of  the  results  effected  by  the 
preaching  of  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ 
among  this  superstitious  and  degraded 
people." 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

THE   MISSION  AT  SITKA. 

WILLIAM  H.  DALL,  in  closing  his 
account  of  two  years  in  Alaska, 
remarks  that  he  was  astonished  at  the 
storm  of  reprobation  which  followed  the 
purchase — reprobation  coming  from  the 
descendants  of  men  who  two  hundred 
years  ago  entered  cheerfully  into  Maine 
and  Massachusetts,  territories  of  much 
less  promise  than  is  Russian  America. 
When  the  chilly  forests  of  Maine  and 
Massachusetts  have  given  way  to  a  mag- 
nificent civilization,  we  may  expect  as 
much  within   a   century  from  Alaska. 

At  the  time  of  the  purchase  Alaska  pos- 
sessed one  town  of  some  three  thousand 
inhabitants — its  capital,  New  Archangel — 
on  the  island  of  Sitka.  The  climate  of 
Sitka  is  moist  and  mild;   the  bay  is  one  of 

loS 


THE   MISSION  AT  SITKA.  l6l 

the  finest  in  the  world,  as  regards  both  its 
commercial  possibilities  and  its  splendid 
scenery ;  it  is  sheltered  by  a  chain  of  low 
green  islands  and  dominated  by  the  snowy 
top  of  Mount  Edgecumbe,  an  extinct  vol- 
cano. 

Sitka,  from  1832,  was  the  centre  of  Rus- 
sian power  in  Alaska.  At  that  time  Baron 
Wrangell  transferred  the  capital  from  St. 
Paul's,  on  Kadiak  Island,  to  New  Archan- 
gel, now  restored  to  its  native  name  of 
Sitka. 

Sitka  was  founded  in  1799;  refounded, 
having  been  destroyed  by  Indians,  in  1804. 
Shipbuilding  was  its  principal  interest,  and 
as  early  as  18 10  it  was  visited  by  ships  of 
John  Jacob  Astor's  fur  company.  In  18 10 
a  Greek  priest  was  settled  in  the  town, 
and  in  1820  a  resident  Russian  physician 
arrived.  In  1834,  Veniaminofif  was  made 
its  bishop.  The  Russians  built  a  castle  for 
the  governor,  also  officers'  quarters,  bar- 
racks and  a  club-house ;  a  Greek  church, 
or  cathedral,  was  also  erected,  with  a  bish- 
op's house,  a  schoolhouse,  a  seminary 
building  and  a  hospital.  These,  with  the 
11 


l62  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

homes  of  traders,  shipbuilders  and  fishers, 
gave  the  town  an  animated  and  imposing 
appearance.  As  early  as  1837  ^'^^  United 
States  sent  to  Sitka  its  first  steam-engine, 
and  its  first  cargo  of  whisky  and  rum. 
For  the  latter  fatal  gift  reparation  has  yet 
to  be  made. 

At  the  time  of  the  purchase  the  schools 
of  Sitka  were  in  a  rather  flourishing  con- 
dition, the  pupils  being  mostly  whites  or 
Creoles.  These  schools  were  closed  when 
the  Russians  withdrew,  and  for  eleven 
years  there  was  no  school,  also  no  preach- 
ing except  that  of  the  Greek  Church  priest. 
As  English  had  been  taught  with  Russian 
in  the  Greek  Church  schools,  many  of  the 
people  fluently  spoke  English.  Fifty  Rus- 
sian ships  and  nearly  nine  hundred  men, 
employed  by  the  Russian  fur  company, 
withdrew  from  Sitka  at  the  time  of  its  oc- 
cupation by  the  United  States ;  their  place 
was  filled  by  the  American  traders.  Many 
families  settled  at  Sitka,  as  there  is  little 
snow  or  ice  in  winter,  and  vegetables  and 
small  fruits  thrive  in  the  gardens,  making 
it  easy  to  obtain  a  comfortable  living. 


THE   MISSION  AT  SITKA.  1 63 

When,  in  1877,  Dr.  Jackson  left  Mrs. 
McFarland  at  Fort  Wrangell  and  returned 
home  to  plead  for  workers,  it  was  deemed 
of  instant  importance  to  establish  a  mis- 
sion at  the  capital,  and  therefore  the  first 
missionaries  who  were  commissioned  to 
Alaska  by  the  Presbyterian  Board  were 
directed  to  proceed  to  Sitka.  These  mis- 
sionaries were  Rev.  John  G.  Brady  of 
New  York  and  Miss  Fanny  E.  Kellogg 
of  North  Granville,  New  York.  They 
reached  Sitka  on  the  nth  of  April.  Mr. 
Brady  at  once  secured  the  use  of  the  "  cas- 
tle," the  former  Russian  governor's  resi- 
dence, for  church  services,  and  of  the 
old  Russian  barracks  for  a  schoolroom. 
These  buildings  were  in  a  dilapidated  con- 
dition, having  been  stripped  of  everything 
on  the  departure  of  the  Russians. 

Over  a  thousand  Indians  were  living  in 
Sitka  when  the  missionaries  arrived  there. 
Some  of  the  chiefs  owned  houses  and 
were  worth  several  thousand  dollars  in 
blankets,  furs  and  other  like  commodities. 
They  were  a  thrifty  and  industrious  class, 
economical  and  ingenious,  though  too  many 


164  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

ot  their  people  were  given  to  drinking,  with 
the  attendant  rioting  and  fighting.  They 
carved  all  sorts  of  toys  and  made  jewelry 
and  trinkets  for  sale  to  the  traders.  One 
Indian  was  even  trying  to  make  a  watch. 
Dall  mentions  the  wonderful  skill  in  carv- 
ing that  these  Inniiit  tribes  exhibit.  Food 
was  abundant;  work  in  the  salmon-preserv- 
ing establishment  was  plenty;  the  Indians 
were  healthy,  hardy,  thoughtful.  Such  a 
class  of  heathens  did  Mr.  Brady  call  to- 
gether at  the  castle  for  his  first  Sabbath 
service. 

A  number  of  the  white  men  of  the  town 
came  in  when  the  service  opened,  and  as 
the  singing  of  "Moody-and-Sankey"  hymns 
was  heard  the  Indians  stole  in  one  by  one, 
until  about  a  hundred  and  fifty  were  seated 
on  the  floor:  they  were  painted  in  black 
and  red,  and,  except  the  leading  chiefs,  had 
their  feet  bare  and  blankets  wrapped  about 
their  shoulders.  A  few  wore  soldier-caps  and 
naval  officers'  old  suits,  and  were  further 
ornamented  with  military  buttons  and  shoul- 
der-straps, gathered  from  officers  who  had 
visited  the  coast.       "  Sitka  Jack  "  was  the 


THE  MISSION  AT  SITKA.  1 65 

leading  orator-chief,  and  Annahootz  the 
war-chief.  The  Indians  spoke  almost  no 
Enelish.  Mr.  Cohen,  a  Hebrew  trader, 
had  kindly  found  for  Mr.  Brady  two  in- 
terpreters. Mr.  Brady  spoke  in  English, 
which  the  first  interpreter  turned  into  Rus- 
sian, and  the  second  into  Indian.  The  peo- 
ple listened  very  attentively,  but  it  was  slow 
work  going  over  the  same  speech  three 
times,  and  eventually  the  oratorical  fervor 
of  Sitka  Jack  began  to  boil  over,  and  he 
bubbled  into  ardent,  gesticulating  speech. 
He  explained  the  evil  state  of  his  people 
— their  drinking,  their  fighting  and  their 
killing  one  another ;  their  unfortunate 
state  of  ignorance,  which  left  them  so 
much  lower  than  the  whites.  Now  that 
a  teacher  and  preacher  had  arrived  to 
help  them,  Sitka  Jack  seemed  to  antici- 
pate an  immediate  millennium  for  his  long- 
neglected  race.  Then  Annahootz  took  the 
floor,  and  approved  all  that  the  missionary 
had  spoken.  Mr.  Brady  next  discoursed, 
declaring  all  wisdom  and  morals  to  be 
based  on  the  Bible,  and  explaining  that 
they  must  go  to  school  and  learn  to  read 


1 66  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

and  study  this  book  of  God.  Jack  next 
..asked  the  Indians  if  they  found  that  style 
of  talk  satisfactory,  and  they  said  that  they 
did.  They  explained  that  only  few  Indians 
were  present  because  numbers  had  gone 
off  to  hunt,  but  would  return  in  "two 
moons."  After  prayer  and  singing,  the 
meeting  closed.  They  had  only  one  ser- 
vice that  day.  No  wonder,  for  it  had  last- 
ed several  hours. 

Some  of  the  traders  remained  to  assure 
Mr.  Brady  of  his  hopeful  prospects.  They 
said  the  Indians  were  evidently  heartily  in- 
terested, and  were  a  very  reliable,  straight- 
forward set  of  people.  These  men,  who 
had  known  the  Alaska  Indians  for  years, 
said  they  were  a  superior  set  of  natives, 
self-supporting,  hard-working,  quick  to 
learn  and  faithful  in  keeping  contracts. 
Witchcraft  and  whisky  were  their  two  evil 
genii. 

The  next  day  Mr.  Brady  hired  some 
Indians  and  began  to  get  the  barracks 
ready  for  school  and  church.  A  Mr.  Whit- 
ford  had  bought  all  that  the  Russians  had 
sold,  and  from  him   Mr.   Brady  purchased 


THE   MISSION  AT  SITKA.  1 6/ 

twenty  benches,  a  stove,  two  tables,  two 
brooms  and  a  box  of  chalk.  The  Greek 
priest  kindly  lent  an  old  warped  black- 
board. Wood  was  purchased  and  cut, 
and  all  was  ready  for  opening  the  school. 
The  missionaries  took  an  inventory  of 
their  "  stock  on  hand,"  and  found  only 
six  primers.  This  lack  of  apparatus  for 
immediate  and  pressing  work  can  be  ex- 
plained only  by  the  fact  that  there  was  so 
much  to  be  thought  of  and  provided,  and 
that  where  the  field  was  so  entirely  new 
they  had  yet  to  learn  what  material  could 
7iot  be  procured  on  the  spot. 

On  Wednesday,  April  17th,  the  school 
opened  with  fifty  pupils.  It  was  a  suc- 
cess from  the  start.  The  church  services 
sometimes  had  three  hundred  Indians 
present.  Miss  Kellogg  had  the  advan- 
tage of  being  a  good  musician,  and  pos- 
sessed "  the  genius  for  teaching,"  so  sadly 
lacked  by  many  who  attempt  to  teach,  who 
possess,  but  cannot  communicate,  knowl- 
edge. There  was  no  "parrot-learning" 
in  this  school.  Much  of  the  instruction 
was   oral,    and   much  was    by  blackboard. 


1 68  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

Miss  Kellog-g  explained  the  meaning  of 
every  word  learned,  and  the  progress  was 
solid.  The  Indians  showed  good  intellects, 
and  in  a  month  twenty-five  knew  their  let- 
ters and  thirteen  had  begun  to  read  in  the 
primer.  They  also  made  progress  in  Eng- 
lish.    Object-teaching  was  much  used. 

As  might  be  expected  from  such  a  class 
of  pupils,  they  were  irregular  and  tardy 
in  attendance.  Miss  Kellogg  discovered 
that  they  were  all  eager  to  learn  to  write, 
and  also  apt  in  this  branch  of  study,  ex- 
hibiting the  Mongolian  imitativeness  so 
largely  developed  in  the  Chinese.  Writ- 
ing was  therefore  made  the  first  morning 
lesson,  and   there  was  no  more  tardiness. 

The  method  used  was  about  this  :  Ob- 
ject-words were  put  on  the  board,  as 
•'  knife,"  "  fish,"  "  hand."  The  object  was 
either  shown  or  drawn,  and  the  scholars 
spelled  the  words  aloud,  letter  by  letter, 
several  times.  Then  the  Indian  equiva- 
lents were  given,  and  thus  the  pupils 
learned  in  English  what  they  were  say- 
ing and  the  teacher  learned  Indian.  Then 
they  wrote,  carefully  copying,  a  dozen  lines, 


THE   MISSION  AT  SITKA.  1 69 

overlooked  and  aided  by  the  teacher.  The 
one  who  did  the  best  work  was  then  al- 
lowed a  drawine-lesson  as  a  reward.  Some 
of  the  young  men  showed  great  aptitude 
for  arithmetic. 

On  Friday  evenings  they  had  a  singing- 
school,  and  whistling  in  tune  was  allowed. 

On  the  Sabbath,  in  addition  to  the  ser- 
mon, they  were  taught  hymns,  and  texts 
of  Scripture  were  given  them,  by  con- 
stant repetition,  to  memmorize  in  English, 
and  were  explained  in   Indian. 

Like  the  Wrangell  Indians,  these  in  Sitka 
wished  to  be  married  and  buried  in  "United 
States  fashion."  Captain  Jack,  having  been 
married  by  Mr.  Brady,  declared  that  the 
ceremony  had  made  him  a  Christian :  his 
notion  of  Christianity  was  to  cease  being 
"a  whisky-Indian."  Miss  Kellogg  expound- 
ed to  him  the  evils  of  intemperance  and  the 
virtues  of  a  pledge.  Jack  could  write  his 
own  name,  and  after  he  had  received 
careful  instruction  he  signed  the  pledge. 
His  sobriety  secured  him  plenty  of  work 
and  good  wages  at  the  salmon-cannery, 
and    a    large    part    of    his    earnings    he 


I/O  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

lavished  in  dressing  his  wife,  of  whom  he 
was  very  proud. 

Whisky  and  hoochinoo  were  the  grand 
opponents  of  successful  work ;  and  Mr. 
Brady  made  every  effort  to  stop  the  manu- 
facture, the  merchants  agreeing  to  bring  no 
more  hogsheads  of  molasses  for  use  in  dis- 
tilling. The  Indian  exposition  of  the  case 
was :  "  Plenty  molasses,  plenty  hoochinoo, 
plenty  drunk  ;  no  molasses,  hoochinoo  two 
dollars  bottle:  no  drunk." 

From  Sitka,  during  the  summer,  Mr. 
Brady  made  a  missionary-tour  by  canoe 
to  the  Hoonyahs  and  the  Kootsnoos.  He 
took  with  him  an  interpreter  and  a  magic- 
lantern  with  pictures  of  Scripture  scenes, 
and  also  some  fine  views  of  the  Holy  Land. 
The  Indians  were  much  deliohted  with  the 
exhibitions,  and  listened  attentively  to  very 
plain  talk  against  witchcraft,  whisky,  gam- 
bling and  other  vices  in  which  they  freely 
indulged.  They  earnesdy  begged  for  a 
school  and  a  preacher,  offering  to  help 
build  a  schoolhouse.  The  Hoonyahs  oc- 
cupy what  will  be  a  mining  region. 

In    December,   1878,   Miss  Kellogg  was 


THE   MISSION  AT  SITKA.  I/I 

married  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Young  of  Fort 
Wrangell,  and  at  her  departure  the  school 
of  Sitka  was  closed,  as  no  teacher  was 
commissioned  to  take  her  place.  This 
school  had  been  very  popular,  and  the 
citizens  deeply  regretted  its  close.  As 
no  teacher  was  found  by  the  Board  of 
Missions  after  several  months'  waiting,  the 
citizens  invited  Mr.  Alonzo  E.  Austin  of 
New  York  to  come  as  teacher.  He  ar- 
rived in  the  autumn  of  1879,  and  at  once 
opened  a  school  with  better  appliances 
and  sixty  pupils. 

At  this  time  Mr.  Brady  had  withdrawn 
from  his  connection  with  the  Board  of 
Home  Missions,  and  in  January,  1880, 
Rev.  G.  W.  Lyons  was  commissioned  as 
missionary  to  Sitka,  and  Miss  Olinda  Aus- 
tin was  sent  as  teacher,  to  join  her  father 
in  the  school. 

In  the  spring  of  1880  the  publication 
of  Dr.  Jackson's  book  on  Alaska  added 
much  to  the  already  deep  interest  of  the 
Church  in  missions  on  the  North  Pacific 
coast.  If  the  Church  can  only  be  plainly 
shown    the    need,    amount,    prospects   and 


172  AJ/O.VG    THE   ALASKANS. 

methods  of  work  in  any  given  field,  a 
vital  interest  will  at  once  arise  in  that 
field,  and  money  for  it  will  not  be  lack- 
ing. The  missionary  columns  in  our  re- 
ligious papers  do  not  supply  the  informa- 
tion needed  fully  to  set  our  missions  before 
the  Church:  our  home-mission  work  needs 
to  be  "written  up."  The  foreign  field  has 
found  a  large  increase  of  interest  in  its 
labors  from  the  numerous  books  that  have 
been  written — interestingly  written — giving 
descriptions  of  the  work,  the  countries 
where  the  missionaries  toil,  and  the  lives 
of  the  missionaries  themselves ;  the  Pueblo, 
the  Mormon  and  the  American-Indian  work 
should  be  similarly  brought  before  the 
Church.  A  book  gives  a  compact,  united 
view  of  a  subject;  the  same  view,  given 
monthly  or  weekly  in  the  columns  of 
periodicals,  loses  much  of  its  force,  and, 
moreover,  is  much  less  likely  to  meet  the 
notice  of  the  young.  A  hearty  missionary 
spirit  will  be  had  in  our  Church  only  when 
we  furnish  our  youth  with  more  books  on 
missionary  themes. 

To  return  to  Sitka.     Mr.  Austin's  school 


THE  MISSION  AT  SITKA.  1 73 

had  been  for  Creoles,  for  Russians  and  for 
other  white  youth  of  Sitka.  Miss  Austin's 
work  was  to  reorganize  the  former  school 
of  Miss  Kellotror,  and  it  was  thought  best 
to  leave  the  Indians  to  request  the  reopen- 
ing of  this  and  to  pledge  their  attendance. 
On  the  first  Sabbath  after  her  arrival,  while 
Mr.  Austin  was  conducting  his  Russian 
school,  some  sixty  Indians  came  in  and 
asked  Miss  Austin  to  be  their  teacher. 
Miss  Austin  took  half  of  these  Indians 
to  one  side  of  the  room,  before  a  black- 
board, and  by  means  of  an  interpreter 
began  to  teach  them.  She  wrote  the 
Lord's  Prayer  on  the  board,  clearly,  sen- 
tence by  sentence,  and  explained  it  to 
them.  Mr,  Brady  took  charge  of  the 
other  thirty  Indians,  and  taught  them  in 
the  same  fashion. 

The  next  day  Miss  Austin  set  out  to 
visit  the  two  tribes  of  Indians  living  in 
the  village,  and  to  tell  them  that  the  school 
would  be  opened  on  the  5th  of  April.  Cap- 
tain Beardslee,  of  the  United  States  steam- 
er lying  at  Sitka,  took  a  hearty  interest  in 
this  project,  accompanied    Miss  Austin  in 


174  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

her  visits,  and  warned  the  Indians  to  use 
soap  and  water  freely  before  they  came  to 
school.  Thanks  to  this  suggestion,  they 
were  very  tidy  when  they  made  their  ap- 
pearance. Most  of  these  Indians  were 
still  dressed   in  blankets. 

The  school  opened  with  one  hundred 
and  three  boys  and  girls.  The  older  peo- 
ple demanded  admission,  and,  as  the  teach- 
er was  really  unable  to  attend  to  more  than 
a  hundred  pupils  at  once  and  alone,  she 
was  put  in  the  very  painful  position  of 
refusing  instruction  to  people  eager  to 
receive  it.  This  so  distressed  her  that 
she  made  her  plans  to  give  the  grown 
Indians  an  hour  or  two  of  especial  teach- 
ing each  week. 

Miss  Austin  heard  of  an  English-speak- 
ing Indian  woman  married  to  a  white  man, 
and,  going  to  her,  she  explained  her  work 
and  asked  her  to  be  her  assistant  in  teach- 
ing the  Indians  "  to  speak  English,  read, 
sew  and  be  good."  The  woman  was  de- 
lighted at  the  project,  and  readily  agreed. 
Captain  Beardslee  offered  to  pay  her  a 
salary,  which  she   refused  to  take,  saying 


THE  MISSION  AT  SITKA.  175 

"she  was  happy  to  do  good."  A  delega- 
tion of  squaws  came  to  Miss  Austin  for 
instructions  as  to  when  and  how  they 
should  appear  at  the  Sabbath  services, 
and  after  that  eighty  were  constant  at- 
tendants. They  were  pretty  well  dressed, 
but  their  children  were  nearly  naked. 

The  wives  of  United  States  officers  at 
Sitka  took  a  deep  interest  in  Miss  Austin's 
work,  and  prepared  aprons  for  the  children 
to  wear  in  the  schoolroom,  putting  them  on 
when  they  came  in  in  the  morning.  The 
officers  of  the  United  States  ship  came  on 
Sabbath  forenoons  and  helped  with  the 
singing.  Too  much  cannot  be  said  in 
commendation  of  the  admirable  way  in 
which  nearly  all  the  United  States  officers 
in  Sitka  have  aided  the  school-work. 

When  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lyons  and  Miss 
Austin  arrived  in  Sitka  the  majority  of 
the  Indians  were  away,  hunting  and  fishing. 
Captain  Beardslee  and  his  wife  interested 
themselves  in  procuring  a  place  for  services 
and  secured  an  old  Russian  guardhouse 
building,  which  the  marines  cleaned  and 
whitewashed.      They    then    fitted    up    two 


176  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

washrooms,  one  for  boys  and  one  tor 
girls.  Benches,  tables,  glass  for  windows, 
an  organ,  pictures,  books  and  Sabbath- 
school  papers  were  among  the  things 
greatly  needed,  but  with  all  their  might 
the  missionaries  pushed  on  the  work  with 
the  material  at  hand,  meanwhile  sending 
home  for  help.  Their  appeals  reached 
the  public  (generally  through  the  columns 
of  the  Rocky  Alountahi  Presbyteria7i)  and 
entered  the  warm  hearts  of  the  ladies  of 
our  home-missionary  societies.  At  this 
time  how  many  hands  of  ladies  and  young 
girls,  and  even  of  children,  were  busy  pre- 
paring clothing,  Christmas  gifts  and  re- 
ward-cards for  the  Alaska  schools,  and  col- 
lecting funds  for  scholarships,  books,  school- 
room appliances,  organs,  bells — all  the  par- 
aphernalia needed  for  efficient  work  ! 

But  if  the  children  of  our  Sabbath- 
schools  were  thus  busy,  the  judicious 
teachers  at  Alaska  did  not  allow  their 
pupils  to  fall  helplessly  back  on  other 
people  when  they  might  help  themselves. 
The  litde  Indians  were  encouraged  to  pre- 
pare work  and  curiosities  to  be  sent  to  the 


THE   MISSION  AT  SITKA.  I// 

home  societies  for  sale,  that  with  the  pro- 
ceeds books  and  clothes  might  be  pur- 
chased. Mats  of  braided  grass,  toy  In- 
dian hats,  odd  little  carved  boxes,  and  even 
Alaska  dolls  dressed  in  fur,  went  to  the 
mission-rooms  for  sale. 

The  last  day  of  1880  was  the  occasion 
of  a  fine  celebration.  The  missionaries 
had  a  Christmas  tree.  Some  gifts  had 
come  from  the  East ;  the  officers  and 
their  wives,  tireless  in  kind  deeds,  provid- 
ed apples  and  candy.  The  Indian  school 
numbered  over  one  hundred ;  seventy 
whites  were  in  Mr.  Austin's  school :  all 
assembled  too;ether  in  the  best  of  gfood- 
fellowship.  Commander  Glass,  of  the 
United  States  ship  Jamestown,  was  pres- 
ent. 

First  came  singing ;  then  the  Lord's 
Prayer,  recited  in  concert ;  then  a  talk 
from  Mr.  Lyons  about  the  great  Gift,  the 
Lord  Jesus,  in  remembrance  of  whom 
these  gifts  had  been  sent.  The  Greek 
Church  priest  made  a  nice  little  talk  in 
Russian,  and  the  customs  collector  of  the 
United  States  made  a  speech  in  behalf 
12 


178  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

of  education.  Then  Commander  Glass 
presented  each  of  the  three  leading  chiefs 
with  a  red  bandana  handkerchief  bearing 
portraits  of  President  Garfield  and  Vice- 
President  Arthur,  explaining  that  these 
were  pictures  of  the  "  American  great 
chiefs,"  who  were  examples  of  the  advan- 
tages of  morals  and  education,  following 
whose  steps  the  Alaska  chiefs  must  send 
their  people  to  school.  Among  the  pres- 
ents then  distributed — to  every  one  some- 
thing— were  seventy  other  bandanas,  but 
without  portraits.  Two  lads  who  had  never 
missed  either  church  or  school  session  were 
given  especial  rewards  of  pantaloons,  sus- 
penders, kerchief  and  necktie,  and  a  box 
with  pens  and  pencils.  It  would  be  hard 
to  enumerate  the  schools  and  individuals 
from  New  York,  Kansas,  Maryland,  Ohio, 
and  Pennsylvania  that  by  sending  gifts 
had  shared  in  this  happy  occasion. 

Although  the  Alaska  Indians  are  saving 
and  industrious,  and  some  of  them  com- 
fortably off,  it  is  not  to  be  inferred  that 
the  majority  are  not  very  poor.  Many 
of  the  school-children  are  orphans,  or  even 


THE   MISSION  AT  SITKA.  1/9 

slaves ;  for  these  Indians  still  hold  one  an- 
other in  slavery.  Some  of  them  come  bare- 
foot and  shiverinof  throuofh  the  winter  snow, 
exposed,  almost  naked,  to  the  cold  ;  others 
come  almost  famished.  In  behalf  of  these 
Miss  Austin  wrote  that  she  could  be  more 
successful  in  giving  instruction  if  she  gave 
it  to  less  hiaigry  scholars,  and  that  if  she 
could  hand  the  poor  little  ones  a  piece  of 
bread  as  they  entered  school,  they  could 
study  better. 

Speaking  of  slaves,  Indian  slavery  is 
most  cruel  in  its  manifestations.  Masters 
torture  or  shoot  or  drown  their  slaves  on 
almost  any  pretext.  One  slave-boy  ran 
off  from  a  most  cruel  master,  and  hid  in 
the  long  wood-house  belonging  to  the 
Sitka  guard-house.  He  slept  in  an  old 
puncheon,  and  crept  out  after  dark  to  hunt 
the  refuse-barrels  for  bits  of  food  cast 
out  from  the  kitchens.  Another  slave- 
boy  was  shot  and  wounded  by  his  master, 
and  was  saved  from  death  only  by  being 
seized  by  the  marines.  For  such  boys 
as  these  it  was  thought  needful  to  estab- 
lish a  home  on  the  plan  of  the  girls'  home 


l8o  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

at  Wranoell.  Very  many  of  the  Indian 
boys,  afttn-  coming-  to  school  and  enjoying 
during  the  day  the  advantages  of  cleanh- 
ness,  quiet,  order  and  instruction,  dreaded 
to  return  at  night  to  the  dirt,  crowding, 
noise  and  hoochinoo  of  the  Indian  quar- 
ters. They  pleaded  with  the  teachers  to 
provide  them  an  industrial  home.  But 
how  establish  a  home,  when  the  day-school 
itself  was  so  poorly  provided  that  there 
were  not  nearly  books  enough  for  the  pu- 
pils, and  when  Miss  Austin,  after  teaching  all 
day,  had  to  spend  most  of  her  evenings  in 
supplying  the  lack  of  books  and  slates  by 
printing  with  her  pen  or  with  chalk  spell- 
ing, notation  and  reading  lessons  for  the 
next  day's  work  ? 

But  the  boys'  home  started  itself,  just  as 
the  girls'  home  had  done.  In  November, 
1880,  some  of  the  boys  begged  to  be  al- 
lowed to  live  in  the  schoolhouse  and  es- 
cape the  quarreling,  carousing  and  drinking 
at  home.  They  said  they  would  take  care 
of  themselves,  hunt  their  own  food,  sleep 
on  the  Hoor  in  their  blankets  and  "jump 
about    if    they   were    cold."     Miss    Austin 


THE   MISSION  A  T  SITKA. 


i8i 


could  only  consent.  The  lads  did  as  they 
agreed.  Others  joined  them ;  they  kept 
clean  by  washing  in  the  ocean — a  large- 
enouofh  bath-tub — and  arranCTino-  their  hair 


"  BOV    I,  IN    HOUSE    No.  38." 

by  using  a  scrap  of  bright  tin  as  a  looking- 
glass.  A  native  policeman  was  sent  to 
sleep    in    the    schoolroom  with    them. 

In  February,  1881,  Captain  Glass,  of  the 
Jamestown,  proclaimed  compulsory  educa- 
tion for  all  Indian  children  between  five  and 


1 82  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

nineteen  years  of  age.  The  captain  num- 
bered all  the  Indian  houses,  then  numbered 
the  children,  and  stamped  house  and  indi- 
vidual numbers  on  a  tin  label,  having  "  B" 
for  a  boy,  and  "  G  "  for  a  girl,  together  with 
the  number  of  the  house.  These  were 
hung  about  the  necks  of  all  the  children  ; 
and  if  one  was  absent,  except  for  illness, 
the  native  policeman  caught  the  child,  re- 
ported the  delinquent  guardian  and  said 
guardian  was  fined  by  the  captain — a  blan- 
ket or  a  day's  imprisonment,  as  seemed 
suited  to  the  case. 

Captain  Glass  may  be  safely  set  down  as 
the  most  wise  and  benevolent  tyrant  of 
modern  times.  The  circumstances  of  a 
place  left,  like  Sitka,  without  government 
admit  only  of  a  dictator.  Probably,  when 
laws  and  magistrates  are  accorded  Alas- 
ka, Sitka  will  not  be  so  well  governed  as  it 
was  by  the  commander  of  the  Jamestown. 
Under  the  captain's  system,  the  school 
numbered  two  hundred  and  seventy-one 
members.  The  Indians  soon  resigned 
themselves  to  the  inevitable,  and  enjoyed 
it. 


THE  MISSION  AT  SITKA.  1 83 

Captain  Glass  next  compelled  the  Indians 
to  die  ditches  all  about  their  houses,  to  drain 
them  on  the  outside,  and  to  whitewash  them 
outside  and  in.  The  rate  of  sickness  and 
death  at  once  remarkably  decreased. 

The  commander's  next  work  was  to  pre- 
pare the  old  Russian  hospital-building  for  a 
school  and  boys'  home.  The  Indian  boys 
went  to  work  under  the  superintendence  and 
with  the  aid  of  the  marines  ;  the  filthy  build- 
ing was  cleaned  and  whitewashed,  glass  was 
put  in  the  windows,  partitions  were  put  up, 
fences  repaired,  walks  graveled  and  bunks 
built  in  the  dormitory.  The  boys  went  into 
the  forest,  camped,  and  cut  down  their  win- 
ter supply  of  wood,  made  it  into  rafts,  towed 
it  by  canoe  to  Sitka,  landed  it  on  the  beach 
before  the  home,  cut  it  and  carried  it  in,  and 
were  ready  with  fuel  for  winter.  This  work 
was  begun  in  the  spring  of  1881.  As  soon 
as  the  fishing  season  opened  these  lads  hired 
a  net  and  caught  and  salted  seven  barrels 
of  salmon  for  their  next  winter's  use ;  they 
also  made  a  good  garden  in  the  hospital 
grounds,  and  raised  vegetables — cabbages, 
potatoes,  and  so  on — for  the  winter.    Mean- 


1 84  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

while,  they  studied  their  lessons  and  did 
their  own  cooking  and  washing.  It  may 
safely  be  said  that  no  mission  station  has 
ever  set  a  finer  example  of  industry,  econ- 
omy and  self-help,  and  none  deserves  bet- 
ter of   the  Church. 

Thus  the  industrial  home  at  Sitka  was 
begun,  and  named  the  "Sheldon  Jackson 
Institute."  At  this  time  half  the  scholars 
had  to  sit  on  the  floor,  for  want  of  benches, 
and  two  hundred  and  seventy-one  pupils 
had  one  teacher,  one  blackboard,  one  box 
of  chalk  and  six  books. 

Captain  Glass,  being  responsible  for  the 
numbers  at  the  school,  sent  a  carpenter  to 
make  more  benches,  hunted  up  all  the 
slates  and  books  in  Sitka  and  gave  a  doz- 
en tin  wash-basins  to  the  institution.  Mrs. 
Glass  was  an  unwearying  friend.  The  In- 
dians said  they  were  "  so  afraid  of  Captain 
Glass  that  they  shook  like  a  fit,  but  he  had 
huge  big  heart — built  them  house,  gave  them 
medicine."  He  was  particularly  emphatic 
on  the  subject  of  hoochinoo.  The  Rev. 
Mr.  Lyons  sent  to  Portland  for  books,  but 
for    three     months    no    steamer    came    up. 


THE   MISSION  AT  SITKA.  1 87 

The  teaching  was  of  the  kind  practiced 
by  Miss  Kellogg  and  in  Wrangell — much 
use  of  the  blackboard  and  of  object-les- 
sons. Time  table,  multiplication  table,  the 
Commandments  and  the  Lord's  Prayer 
were  taught  orally,  and,  in  spite  of  hin- 
drances,  progress   was  admirable. 

The  steamer  of  May  6,  1881,  brought 
books,  slates,  pencils  and  boxes  of  clothing, 
also  Mr.  Austin's  commission  from  the 
Home  Mission  Board  as  teacher  of  the 
boys'    boarding-school. 

Sickness  had  compelled  Mr.  Lyons  to 
leave  this  field  at  Sitka,  where  he  was 
doing  excellent  work,  and  where  workers 
were  so  greatly  needed.  Visitors  to  the 
school  declared  that  four  teachers  were 
necessary. 

During  Dr.  Jackson's  visit  in  1881  he 
secured  for  the  Presbyterian  mission  a 
building,  formerly  a  Lutheran  church,  put 
up  by  a  Creole  named  Etolin,  governor 
of  Alaska  in  1830.  Etolin  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Lutheran  Church,  and  had  se- 
cured for  Sitka  a  chapel  and  a  minister 
of   his   denomination.     This   building   was 


106  AMOXG    77/ E   ALASKANS. 

deserted  at  the  purchase,  the  windows 
were  broken  and  part  of  the  roof  fell ; 
it  was  thirty-seven  by  sixty  feet  in  size, 
and  of  strong  frame.  By  July,  1881,  the 
old  hospital  was  revolutionized.  Ever- 
green trees  were  planted  along  the  walks ; 
the  garden  was  in  fine  condition  ;  thirty  sin- 
gle bedsteads  were  up  in  the  dormitory; 
there  were  a  bath-room,  a  kitchen,  a  dining- 
room,  two  store-rooms,  a  reading-room  and 
a  hospital-room.  A  dispensary  was  equip- 
ped, and  the  surgeon  of  the  Jamestown 
each  morning  attended  and  prescribed  for 
sick  Indians.  There  were  twenty-five  boys 
in  the  home,  all  comfortably  dressed  in  blue 
denim  overalls  and  jackets,  each  lad  own- 
ing- two  sets  of  underclothes.  Owine  to 
the  liberality  of  Captain  Glass  and  the 
labor  of  the  Indians,  the  whole  expense 
to  the  Church  was  but  three  hundred  dol- 
lars. The  much-needed  orcran  had  been 
sent  by  Captain  Beardslee  ;  the  bell,  and 
also  a  fine  cooking-stove,  were  sent  to 
this  mission  through  Dr.  Jackson.  Reward- 
and  text-cards  were  also  given  for  distri- 
bution,   and    these    were    regarded   as    so 


THE   MISSION  AT  SITKA. 


189 


precious  that  little  calico  bags  were  made 
and  the  cards  carried  in  them  about  the 
owner's  neck.  The  year  1881  closed  with 
a  very  happy  Christmas  celebration  for  the 
church,  the   boardino- school   and   the   day- 


DORMITORY,  "SHELDON   JACKSON    INDUSTRIAL   SCHOOL." 

school.  Thirty  boys  were  in  the  home, 
from  a  tall  fellow  of  eighteen  down  to 
a  wee  one  called  "  Baby  Charlie." 

On  an  intensely  cold  night  (January  24, 


190  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

1882)  this  flourishing  home  was  entirely 
destroyed  by  a  conflagration.  This  was 
not  the  result  of  carelessness.  The  build- 
ing was  very  old,  and  the  flues  were  de- 
fective ;  the  extreme  cold  required  large 
fires,  and  the  real  state  of  the  chimneys 
in  the  ancient  Russian  house  could  not 
be  known.  The  flames  broke  out  at  six 
in  the  morning — in  that  latitude,  long  be- 
fore sunrise  in  winter.  There  was  no  fire- 
apparatus  of  any  kind  in  Sitka,  and  the 
hospital  burned  like  tinder. 

Aroused  from  sleep  by  the  terrific  cry 
of  "  Fire !"  the  boys  of  the  home  showed 
remarkable  courage  and  presence  of  mind 
and  a  self-sacrificing  spirit  which  cannot 
be  too  highly  commended.  The  Hon, 
William  G.  Morris,  who  was  present,  says : 
"  The  Indian  boys  battled  manfully  with  the 
flames  :  they  worked  like  young  Trojans, 
seemingly  entirely  destitute  of  fear.  I 
have  been  particularly  impressed  with  the 
progress  already  made  by  the  boys,  and 
should  consider  it  a  public  calamity  if  the 
school  should  be  suffered  to  die  now  for 
lack  of  support.     The  management  is,  in 


THE   MISSION  AT  SITKA.  I9I 

my  judgment,  especially  to  be  commend- 
ed." This,  from  the  United  States  col- 
lector of  customs  in  Sitka,  is  high  praise. 

Mrs.  Austin  writes :  "  One  of  our  boys, 
of  whom  we  are  very  fond  and  proud, 
worked  like  a  hero.  He  said,  '  I  will  save 
Mr.  Austin's  furniture  if  I  die  in  the 
flames.  I  am  not  afraid  to  die.'  He 
worked  with  all  his  might,  stayed  till  the 
fire  was  all  about  him,  and  then  jumped 
from  the  second-story  window."  Miss 
Austin's  letter  states :  "  The  boys  rushed 
through  the  blinding  smoke  to  save  us." 
Mr.  Austin  tells  that  one  of  the  boys, 
resolved  on  saving  his  teacher's  watch, 
left  in  the  bedroom,  accomplished  his 
wish  at  the  expense  of  being  badly 
scorched. 

The  fire  broke  out  in  the  schoolroom, 
above  the  boys'  dormitory.  Instead  of 
devoting  themselves  to  saving  their  own 
clothes,  trinkets  and  little  treasures  re- 
ceived as  prizes  and  on  Christmas  trees, 
the  lads  first  hurried  out  the  small  boys 
and  looked  to  see  if  the  teacher's  family 
were  safe,  and  then  set  themselves  to  res- 


192  AJ/OXO    THE    ALASKANS. 

cuing-  Mr.  Austin's  furniture.  The  pianos 
of  Miss  Austin  and  Mrs.  Willard  were 
taken  out;  Mrs.  Willard's  piano  was  wait- 
ing to  be  carried  to  Chilcat,  and  its  box  was 
burned.  Mr.  Austin's  furniture  was  saved, 
but  in  a  badly-damaged  condition.  The 
Indians  and  the  townspeople,  as  well  as 
the  school-boys,  worked  heartily,  but  faith- 
fully, to  save  the  building.  The  organ, 
sent  by  Captain   Beardslee,  was  burned. 

Mr.  Austin  succeeded  in  rescuing  most 
of  the  bedding  belonging  to  the  boys, 
but  their  clothes,  except  what  they  hastily 
put  on,  were  all  lost.  The  fire  breaking 
out  on  the  boys'  side  of  the  building,  their 
effects  were  first  destroyed.  The  lads  saved 
the  cooking-stove,  also  the  cooking-uten- 
sils. 

The  grief  of  the  boys  as  they  saw  their 
first  and  only  real  home  swept  away  can- 
not be  described ;  they  had  lost  their  all. 
The  Indians  from  the  ranche  wept  in  sym- 
pathy and  made  most  touching  expres- 
sions of  their  interest  in  the  school  and 
its  teachers. 

The  Hon.  Mr.  Morris  at  once  prepared 


THE  MISSION  AT  SITKA.  I93 

some  rooms  in  the  old  barracks  for  the 
Austin  family,  moved  their  furniture  there 
and  made  them  as  comfortable  as  he  could. 
Mrs.  Captain  Beardslee  had  just  sent  a 
present  of  clothes  and  blankets,  and  prom- 
ised a  sewing-machine.  Mrs.  Captain  Glass, 
who  had  returned  to  San  Francisco,  volun- 
teered aid  from  her  friends,  and  Mrs.  Lieu- 
tenant Symonds  was  already  working  for 
the  home  among  her  friends  in  Ogdens- 
burg. 

Some  of  the  children  were  taken  back 
to  the  Indian  village,  or  ranche,  by  their 
friends ;  but,  as  the  intiuence  of  Indian 
life  was  especially  to  be  avoided,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Austin  as  soon  as  possible  fitted  up 
a  dormitory  and  continued  the  school.  The 
boys  wrote  several  letters  to  the  Board  of 
Missions,  entreating-  that  their  home  mio-ht 
be  rebuilt. 

The  dormitory  fitted  up  was  an  old  stable 
building,  under  which,  at  high  tide,  the  water 
rose  to  within  a  foot  or  two  of  the  flooring. 
Mr.  Morris  and  others  acquainted  with  the 
situation,  while  they  deplored  the  calamity 
and  the  consequent  hindrance  to  the  school, 

13 


194  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

yet  declared  the  building  itself  no  loss,  for, 
from  its  ancient  use  as  a  hospital  and  its 
decayed  condition,  it  was  unsafe  and  un- 
healthy, Mr.  Morris  says :  "  I  have  never 
been  of  the  opinion  that  the  hospital-build- 
ing was  of  any  value  to  the  United  States 
for  such  purposes  or  to  reside  in.  Had  the 
government  ever  contemplated  using  the 
land  again  for  hospital  purposes,  the  first 
thing  to  do  would  have  been  to  burn  the 
building  down,  A  much  more  suitable 
edifice  for  educational  use  could  be  erect- 
ed at  reasonable  cost." 

The  letters  from  Mr.  Morris  and  Mr., 
Mrs.  and  Miss  Austin  were  immediately 
published  by  Dr.  Jackson,  and,  agreeably 
to  Mr.  Morris's  request,  he  "  took  the  ros- 
trum himself"  and  pleaded  for  funds  for 
rebuilding.  The  ladies  of  the  Woman's 
Executive  Committee  of  Home  Missions 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  entered  into 
the  work  with  their  usual  whole-souled 
courage,  and  funds,  clothing  and  school- 
paraphernalia  began  to  go  to  Sitka  as 
fast  as  steam  could  carry  thciu.  The 
Executive  Committee  had  no  hesitation  in 


THE   MISSION  AT  SITKA.  195 

assuming  the  rebuilding  and  the  proper 
furnishing  of  the  school-home ;  in  no  way 
could  money  be  more  usefully  spent.  The 
mission  of  the  "fire  at  Sitka"  was  to 
strengthen  faith,  zeal  and  charity  and  put 
all  the  work  in  that  locality  on  a  better 
foundation.     So  troubles  fell  out  for  good. 

Dr.  Jackson  reached  Alaska  on  the  Sep- 
tember steamer  on  his  fourth  missionary- 
tour,  and  part  of  his  work  while  there  was 
to  select  a  new  location  and  supervise  the 
rebuilding  of  the  "  Industrial  Home  for 
Boys"  in  Sitka.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Brady 
presented  the  mission  with  his  claim  to 
one   hundred   and   sixty   acres. 

The  new  building,  furnished,  cost  some 
six  thousand  dollars.  It  accommodates 
one  hundred  boarding-pupils  of  both  sexes 
and  the  mission  family.  It  is  one  hundred 
feet  long  and  fifty  deep. 

One  ofreat  need  at  this  home  is  a  teach- 
er  of  the  mechanical  arts,  especially  car- 
pentry and  shoemaking.  A  practical  teach- 
er in  these  branches  would  not  only  make 
the  institution  self-supporting,  but  would 
enable  it  to  send  out  self-supporting  young 


196  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

men.  Dr.  Guthrie,  in  his  ragg'ed  schools, 
always  had  teachers  of  mechanical  arts. 
The  Engrlish  and  German  missions  in  Af- 
rica  have  been  greatly  benefited  by  send- 
ing out  with  their  stations  godly  mechanics 
to  teach  trades  to  the  natives.  The  Sitka 
boys  show  a  remarkable  aptness,  even  un- 
instructed,  in  mending  and  making  shoes, 
and  Dr.  Jackson  sent  them  leather  from 
Portland  on  returning  from  his  trip  in 
1882. 

In  September,  1882,  a  form  of  "black 
measles  "  ravaged  Southern  Alaska.  Many 
Russians  died — forty  in  Sitka  alone — and 
many  wild  Indians.  But,  though  the  dis- 
ease invaded  the  schools  in  Sitka  and 
Fort  Wrangell,  not  one  pupil  died ;  nor 
were  any  cases  lost  at  the  Indian  ranche 
at  Sitka,  where  Mrs.  Austin  supervised 
the  nursing  of  the  sick  and  directed  the 
administration  of  their  medicine. 

At  present  the  entire  force  of  mission- 
aries at  Sitka  is  represented  by  Mr.,  Mrs. 
and  Miss  Austin,  with  occasional  help  from 
Mr.  Brady. 

The  gratitude  of  the  Sitka  Indians  for  all 


THE   MISSION  AT  SITKA.  IQ/ 

favors  received  is  one  of  their  most  pleas- 
ing characteristics.  When  Captain  Glass, 
who  had  been  so  staunch  a  friend,  sailed 
away,  the  home-boys  crowded  to  the  shore, 
and,  with  tears  rolling  down  their  faces, 
cried,  "  Good-bye,  Captain  Glass  ! — Good- 
bye, Jamestown !"  and  for  several  days 
were  too  unhappy  to  eat.  When  the 
school  was  burning,  one  woman  said, 
weeping,  to  Mrs.  Austin,  "  I  sick  at  heart 
for  your  trouble.  I  love  you  same  as  my 
own."  At  the  time  of  the  fire  the  man- 
of-war  Wachusett,  Captain  Lull,  had  gone 
up  to  Haines,  among  the  Chilcats.  As 
soon  as  the  Wachusett  left,  the  hoochi- 
noo  troubles  broke  out  in  Sitka. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

MODERN  HEROES. 

HEROISM— a  spirit  of  self-sacri- 
fice and  superiority  to  danger — is 
one  of  the  good  qualities  that  seem  to 
have  survived  the  fall  of  man,  and  it  finds 
its  development  in  all  families  of  the  hu- 
man race.  This  quality  of  heroism  may 
be  more  or  less  excellent  in  its  exhibitions, 
but  in  any  form  commands,  according  to 
its  degree,  the  admiration  of  men.  Every 
century  has  had  its  heroes  whose  spirit  has 
taken  its  stamp  from  the  circumstances  of 
the  age  which  produced  them.  Thus,  one 
epoch  has  produced  heroes  of  war,  and 
another  heroes  of  religion  ;  a  third,  those 
of  political  opinion.  The  first  century  after 
Christ  was  an  age  of  remarkable  religious 
effort,  as  then  all  the  world  was  missionary 
ground  and  every  preacher  of  the  faith  was 

198 


MODERN  HEROES.  1 99 

a  missionary:  it  was  an  age  of  Christian 
heroes  and  heroisms.  The  present  cen- 
tury is  another  great  age  of  gospel-spread- 
ing, and  has  been  wonderfully  rich  in  he- 
roes of  the  faith.  Like  Paul,  the  chronicler 
of  the  Church  may  suspend  his  pen,  saying, 
"  Time  would  fail  me  to  tell  of — " 

It  is  not  needful  that  a  name  should 
be  noised  abroad  and  receive  the  ac- 
claim of  the  world  as  a  patent  of  bravery 
before  we  inscribe  it  among  the  heroes. 
Deeds,  not  the  trumpetings  of  praise,  stamp 
heroism.  Some  of  the  most  courageous 
acts  are  but  little  known,  and  some  daunt- 
less lives  have  been  but  little  seen  of  the 
public,  and  so  found  few  to  praise. 

Courage  and  martyrdom  have  glorified 
our  foreign  missionary-annals ;  and,  equal- 
ly, martyrdom  and  courage  have  glorified 
our  home  missionary-page.  Alaska  has 
been  a  field  not  wanting  in  examples  of 
high  fortitude.  Any  of  our  stations  there 
might  worthily  have  written  its  history  of 
intrepidity. 

It  is  not  through  any  invidious  neglect 
of  other  localities    that,  where    all   cannot 


200  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

be  enumerated,  we  next  select  Haines,  the 
mission  among  the  Chilcats,  as  worthy*  of 
especial  interest. 

When  Dr.  Jackson  made  his  second  visit 
to  Alaska,  he  took  a  canoe-trip  to  visit  Met- 
lahkatlah.  Some  of  the  Chilcat  Indians  ac- 
companied him  to  Fort  Simpson  ;  and  when 
an  interpreter  was  procured,  a  council  was 
held  and  two  of  the  chiefs  assured  Dr.  Jack- 
son of  their  desire  for  teachers,  and  for  the 
establishment  of  a  mission  among  them. 
They  said  they  were  all  ready  to  give  up 
their  heathen  practices,  which  were  doing 
them  no  good,  and  inquired  when  a  teacher 
would  come.     This  was  in  August,  1879. 

The  canoe  in  which  Dr.  Jackson  traveled 
was  thirty-five  feet  long,  and  in  it,  besides 
the  Fort  Simpson  Christian  Indians,  were 
twelve  wild  Chilcat  Indians,  one  of  them  a 
chief  and  a  shaman.  All  the  Alaskan  In- 
dians are  fond  of  singing,  and  these  boat- 
men beguiled  the  way  with  songs,  the  Chil- 
cats singing  tribe-airs ;  the  Tsimpseans, 
hymns. 

"  Who  is  this  Jesus  you  sing  about  ?" 
asked    the   shaman. 


MODERN  HEROES.  203 

Our  missionaries  in  Alaska  have  been 
able  to  follow  the  paths  which  St.  Paul 
preferred,  going  where  Christ  has  not 
been  so  much  as  named.  The  Church 
cannot  allege  that  these  missions  are 
needless  and  entering  into  ground  occu- 
pied already  by  Christian  teachers,  for 
Presbyterian  missions  have  opened  the 
way  and  are  the  only  ones  occupying 
the    orround    in    Alaska. 

The  Chilcat  tribe  numbers  about  nine 
hundred,  though  any  census  of  these  no- 
mads is  uncertain,  especially  as  they  them- 
selves are  unable  to  count  correctly  beyond 
the  hundred.  The  Chilcat  country  is  the 
farthest  north  yet  reached  by  our  mission- 
aries, and  from  the  school-building  no  less 
than  fifteen  glaciers  are  visible.  The  Chilcats 
had  occasionally  visited  Fort  Simpson,  Met- 
lahkatlah,  where  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
of  all  missionary  enterprises  is  located  (con- 
ducted by  devoted  missionaries  from  Great 
Britain),  and  also  Sitka  and  Fort  Wrangell, 
and  they  had  carried  to  their  friends  won- 
derful tales  of  Indians  "become  white," 
who   could    "  talk   on    paper "    and    "  hear 


204  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

paper  talk,"  and  who  wore  white  folks' 
clothes,  and  lived  in  houses  with  windows, 
and  forsook  the  shaman,  and  ate  no  more 
dog-flesh,  and  no  longer  killed  one  an- 
other. 

The  tale  of  tribes  that  increased,  instead 
of  withering  away  under  the  deadly  simoon 
breath  of  their  own  vices,  had  created  a 
strong  desire  in  the  Chilcats  for  the  same 
helpers  and  teachers.  Mr.  Young  and  Mr. 
Brady  had  already  had  some  conversation 
with  their  chiefs  who  visited  the  southerly 
stations,  and  there  was  a  strong  desire  to 
send  a  preacher  to  this  promising  tribe. 
Indications  of  great  mineral  wealth  in  and 
above  the  Chilcat  country  afforded  an- 
other reason  for  establishing  stations  there 
at  an  early  day,  to  be  ready  to  meet  the 
incoming  of  the  inevitable  mining  pop- 
ulation. 

The  impetus  which  the  home-missionary 
spirit  had  received  from  the  wonderful  suc- 
cess already  reached  in  Alaska,  and  the 
amount  of  information  disseminated  in  re- 
gard to  the  work  and  need  there,  were 
clearly  witnessed    in    the   energy  and  lib- 


MODERN  HEROES.  205 

erality  displayed  in  providing  for  the  Chil- 
cat  mission.  It  is  true  there  was  delay. 
Dr.  Jackson's  canoe-trip  with  this  tribe 
was  in  August,  1879,  and  it  was  April, 
1 88 1,  before  any  missionaries  started  for 
that  distant  port.  But  a  step  so  import- 
ant and  so  difficult  is  not  to  be  hastily 
taken. 

The  Rev.  Eugene  S.  Willard,  of  the 
Allegheny  Theological  Seminary,  offered 
himself  for  this  work,  and  with  his  wife 
and  child  took  the  June  steamer  for  Fort 
Wrangell.  The  church  of  New  Castle, 
Pennsylvania,  gave  them  a  farewell  meet- 
ing on  April  29th,  and  testified  their  in- 
terest by  valuable  gifts — among  others,  of 
a  sewing-machine  and  an   upright  piano. 

On  the  loth  of  June  these  missionaries 
arrived  at  Sitka,  making  glad  the  hearts 
of  the  workers  there. 

On  the  July  steamer  Dr.  Jackson  ar- 
rived, with  a  missionary  for  the  Hydahs 
and  materials  for  the  mission-building-s 
among  both  Chilcats  and  Hydahs.  Sub- 
sequently a  lady  in  Zanesville,  Ohio,  gave 
one    thousand    dollars   toward   the   Chilcat 


206  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

mission.  Dr.  Jackson,  accompanied  by 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Willard,  with  as  litde  delay 
as  possible  went  on  to  Juneau,  and  then 
passed  forward  to  the  country  of  the  Chil- 
cats.  A  site  was  selected  and  a  building 
commenced.  The  new  station  was  called 
"  Haines." 

When  missionaries  reached  Fort  Wran- 
gell  and  Sitka,  they  found  villages  built 
by  white  people,  some  white  inhabitants 
and  a  partial  guarantee  of  order  in  the 
presence  of  certain  employes  of  the  Unit- 
ed States  government.  None  of  these 
footprints  of  civilization  greeted  the  eyes 
of  the  new-comers  at  Haines :  they  en- 
tered into  a  wilderness — a  tribe  of  Indians, 
a  few  Indian  houses,  the  short  summer 
wearing  away,  drawing  on  apace  a  winter 
when  there  would  be  five  months  of  deep 
snow.  In  December  the  day  from  sunrise 
to  sunset  would  be  but  four  hours  longf. 
When  they  were  left  at  the  station  by  the 
last  trading-boat  in  autumn,  they  need 
look  for  no  boats,  no  white  faces,  no  mails, 
no  supplies  of  any  kind,  until  five  or  six 
months  had  passed.       Here  was  isolation, 


MODERN  HEROES.  20/ 

and  the  spirit  that  braved  it  was  high 
heroism. 

The  Board  of  Missions  having  no  funds 
for  the  erection  of  the  necessary  buildings 
at  Haines,  Dr.  Jackson  borrowed  money 
and  erected  a  house  for  the  Willards,  and 
upon  his  return  to  the  East,  in  connection 
with  the  Woman's  Executive  Committee, 
raised  the  money  to  repay  the  loan. 

The  mission-buildings  at  Haines  are  a 
schoolhouse  and  a  missionaries'  house :  we 
might  add,  also,  a  church,  as  a  log  church 
capable  of  holding  three  or  four  hundred 
will  no  doubt  be  occupied  during  1883. 

Around  the  new  home  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Willard  found  all  vegetation  luxuriant  in 
the  heat  of  the  short,  almost  nightless 
summer.  The  missionaries'  hayfield  spread 
green  under  the  blazing  sun,  and  lumber 
was  lying  cut  for  sheltering  the  hay  when 
it  should  be  made,  and  for  housing  the 
missionaries'  goat. 

While  the  mission-houses  were  buildino- 
Dr.  Jackson,  Rev.  Mr.  W^illard  and  Rev. 
Mr.  Corlies  made  a  mission-tour  of  all 
the  Chilcat  and  Chilcoot  villages,  locating 


208  AMONG    THE    ALASKANS. 

a  second  mission  among  the  Chilcats  at 
their  upper  village.  This  station  was 
called  "Willard." 

The  Chilcat  people  were  not  entirely 
unprepared  for  the  work  of  their  mission- 
ary. 

In  June,  1880,  Dr.  Jackson  having  fur- 
nished the  Woman's  Executive  Committee 
the  money,  Mrs.  Dickinson,  the  former 
interpreter  for  Mrs.  McFarland,  and  a 
pupil  for  more  than  two  years  in  the 
Wrang-ell  schools,  left  her  children  with 
Mrs.  McFarland  and  started  for  the  Chil- 
cat country,  where  she  intended  to  teach 
a  school.  Her  husband,  a  white  man,  had 
been  given  a  place  in  a  trading-station. 
The  mission  at  Wrangell  had  no  school- 
supplies  to  furnish  Mrs,  Dickinson,  ex- 
cept five  First  Readers  and  a  primer  or 
two.  Mrs.  Dickinson  had  received  a  small 
salary  as  interpreter  while  at  Fort  Wran- 
gell, and  shortly  after  arriving  in  the  Chil- 
cat country  she  received  a  commission  as 
teacher  and  a  further  salary,  as  it  was 
judged  best  that  she  should  occupy  the 
field,  orivinor    such    instruction    as   she  was 


MODERN  HEROES.  211 

able,  until  missionaries  arrived.  The  school 
opened  with  eighty  pupils,  and  there  was 
much  difficult}^  in  teaching  them  with  so 
few  schoolroom  appliances  or  books  ;  but 
they  were  anxious  to  learn.  Mrs.  Dick- 
inson wrote  that  the  poor  litde  boys  and 
o-irls  came  barefoot  and  half  naked  through 
the  snow  to  learn  about  Christ.  Among 
those  who  attended  Mrs.  Dickinson's  Sab- 
bath-school was  Don-a-wauk,  a  Chilcat 
chief,  who  declared  that  as  soon  as  a 
missionary  came  he  should  become  a 
Christian. 

When  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Willard  arrived, 
Mrs.  Dickinson  was  appointed  their  native 
assistant  and  interpreter.  Don-a-wauk  was 
the  first  to  greet  them,  and,  true  to  his  word, 
embraced  Christianity  and  gave  up  his 
heathen  practices.  Among  other  things, 
he  released  his  slaves. 

The  Chilcats  are  divided  into  families, 
or  clans,  having  for  a  totem,  or  coat-of- 
arms,  the  fieure  of  some  animal,  from 
which  they  take  their  names;  as  "Whale," 
"  Crow,"  "  Cinnamon  bear,"  and  so  on. 
Among  these  families  feuds   and  jealous- 


212  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

ies  often  exist,  and  deep  enmities  are  oc- 
casioned by  depredations  and  murders  com- 
mitted by  one  tribe  upon  another.  Thus, 
Don-a-wauk  was  in  a  state  of  bitter  wrath 
aeainst  the  tribe  at  Sitka  on  account  of  the 
murder  of  one  of  his  friends. 

The  famihes  with  different  totems  differ 
in  rank  as  greatly  as  do  the  various  castes 
in  India.  The  Crows  and  the  Bears  are 
high  caste,  the  Whales  and  the  Wolves  are 
low  caste,  and  one  life  of  a  Crow  is  worth 
very  many  lives  of  a  Whale.  The  Crows 
and  the  Whales  were  in  deadly  feud  when 
Mr.  Willard  reached  his  new  station,  the 
Whales,  from  their  poor,  feeble  and  dis- 
consolate position,  enlisting  most  the  large 
heart  of  the  missionaries. 

In  August,  1 88 1,  the  United  States  ship 
Wachusett  came  up  to  Haines,  and  Cap- 
tain Lull  not  only  brought  the  missionaries 
mails  and  supplies,  but  also  interested  him- 
self in  settling  the  quarrels  of  the  Crows 
and  the  Whales.  The  captain  prepared 
the  chiefs  a  dinner  on  board  the  ship, 
made  them  shake  hands  and  eat  together, 
and,  having  distributed  tobacco,  peace  was 


MODERN  HEROES.  21 3 

established.  This  re-estabUshment  of  peace, 
and  the  consequent  safety  to  Indian  Hfe  at 
the  station,  was  of  great  advantage  to  the 
mission,  as  Shaterich,  the  chief  man  among 
the  Chilcats,  had  said  that  as  soon  as  quiet 
was  estabhshed  many  of  the  Indians  should 
move  down  to  the  station  to  attend  church 
and  give  their  children  the  advantages  of 
the  school.  This  school  had  already  been 
opened  with  a  daily  session  from  nine 
o'clock  until  two  o'clock. 

The  Indians  were  delighted  with  the 
church  services,  but  sometimes  made  mis- 
takes about  the  day ;  for  instance,  five 
canoe-loads  came  over  one  Monday,  sup- 
posing it  to  be  Sunday.  Owing  to  their 
ignorance  of  days  of  the  week,  a  bell  and 
a  flag  were  much  needed,  the  flag  being 
hoisted  on  Sabbath  morning  as  a  token 
to  Indians  all  about  to  cease  from  work 
and  prepare  for  church.  The  flag  and 
the  bell  have  already  been   provided. 

After  the  departure  of  the  Wachusett, 
Don-a-wauk,  the  chief,  went  to  Sitka  on 
a  double  errand :  he  was  to  receive  com- 
pensation   for    the    life   of   his  friend,  and 


214  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

he  had  set  his  heart  on  a  younij  Indian 
girl  at  Sitka  whom  he  wished  to  "  make 
his  wife  in  United  States  fashion."  The 
missionaries  hoped  much  from  the  setting 
up  of  one  Christian  Indian  household  in 
the  shadow  of  the  mission-buildings.  Don- 
a-wauk,  however,  came  back  unhappy.  He 
had  been  paid  money,  blankets  and  Chinese 
trunks  as  honorable  amends  for  his  friend's 
life,  but  the  bride  had  been  denied  him. 
The  friends  of  the  young  women  have 
in  such  cases  a  right  to  an  honorable  gift; 
and  this  eirl's  heathen  friends,  for  the  sake 
of  injuring  a  Christian  India^t,  refused  to 
accept  the  handsome  gifts  he  offered  unless 
he  would  add  a  slave.  Don-a-wauk  had 
freed  his  slaves,  and  deemed  that  it  would 
be  wicked  to  accede  to  the  demand ;  thus 
he  returned  a  sufferer  for  righteousness' 
sake. 

(^n  the  I  St  of  September  the  missionary 
family,  accompanied  by  Mrs.  Dickinson,  who 
had  come  up  from  Wrangell,  set  out  for  a 
tour  among  the  Chilcat  villages.  This  was 
very  needful,  in  order  to  inform  the  Indians 
of  the  plans  proposed  for  their  good,  and 


MODERN  HEROES.  21$ 

to  urge  as  many  of  them  as  possible  to 
come  down  to  the  station  as  soon  as  the 
hunting-  and  fishing-season  ended,  that 
they  might  share  the  advantages  of  school 
and  church. 

A  canoe  was  brought  at  high  tide  to 
within  a  mile  of  the  house  on  a  little  wind- 
ing stream  that  finds  its  way  to  the  great 
Chilcat  River.  Mrs.  Willard  describes  the 
walk  from  the  house  to  the  stream  as  of 
"bewildering  beauty,"  "with  foliage  like 
the  tropics"  and  openings  of  pasture-land 
with  clumps  of  trees  "  so  like  the  home- 
scenery  that  it  made  my  heart  leap  for 
joy."  Arriving  at  five  in  the  afternoon  at 
Don-a-wauk's  house,  they  found  that  his 
servant  had  swept  it  and  spread  fresh 
gravel.  The  Indians  of  the  neighborhood 
hurried  to  greet  the  missionaries,  bringing 
fish  and  berries  for  their  supper,  and  a 
feather  bed  for  Mrs.  Willard  to  sleep  on. 
Sixty-five  came  to  the  evening  service  held 
by  Mr.  Willard,  Mrs.  Dickinson  interpreting 
for  him. 

Next  morning  two  canoes,  each  hewn 
from  a  single  tree,  came  to  take  the  mission- 


2l6  AMOA'G    THE   ALASKANS. 

aries  to  the  upper  villages.  The  party  sat, 
single  file,  flat  on  the  canoe-bottom.  The 
river  was  shallow,  the  current  strong.  At 
seven  in  the  afternoon  they  reached  a  vil- 
lage where  the  Chilcats  were  very  busy 
with  their  fishing.  The  place  was  crowded, 
but  a  partly-furnished  house  was  placed  at 
the  disposal  of  the  guests.  The  green  turf 
was  the  floor ;  there  were  neither  doors 
nor  windows.  A  fire  was  built  on  the 
ground  in  the  midst,  and  the  joyful  Indians 
sent  in  berries  and  fish-oil  in  wash-bowls,  and 
a  fine  salmon  fresh  from  the  river. 

That  evening  there  was  hymn-singing. 
At  sunrise  seventy  five  Indians  attended  a 
meeting,  and  were  much  pleased  with  what 
was  told  them. 

As  the  missionaries  were  on  the  point  of 
settinor  out  word  was  broucrht  that  war  had 
again  flamed  up,  the  difficulty  supposed  to 
have  been  settled  by  Captain  Lull  being 
rekindled.  They  however  pressed  on  to 
the  village  of  Shaterich,  and  that  chief, 
who  had  several  houses,  elaborately  carved 
and,  for  Indian  abodes,  finely  furnished, 
irave    the    missionaries  his  best  house   for 


MODERN  HEROES.  21/ 

preaching  and  his  treasure-house  for  lodg- 
ing, and  prevailed  on  them  to  stay  over 
the  Sabbath.  He  promised  to  provide  food 
for  them  during  their  stay,  and  said  that,  as 
Mrs.  Dickinson  had  a  tongue  for  Indian 
and  for  white  men,  she  must  ask  for  all 
they  wanted.  Signs  of  mourning  for  the 
dead  were  on  every  hand.  Men  and 
women  had  been  slaughtered  ;  houses  were 
barricaded.  Shaterich,  being  a  Bear,  re- 
mained neutral  in  this  contest,  but  services 
for  the  Crows  and  the  Whales  were  held 
separately,  as  neither  could  enter  the 
houses  of  the  other. 

The  mourning  customs  of  the  Chilcats 
are  curious.  The  missionaries  found  the 
women  with  their  hair  cut  off  and  their 
faces  covered  with  black  paint;  in  the 
houses  the  carvings  and  the  images  were 
shrouded  in  red  matting,  and  over  the 
door  at  which  the  dead  last  went  out  they 
put  his  box  and  his  moccasins. 

To  these  unhappy  and  demoralized  peo- 
ple came  the  gospel  of  "  forgiveness." 
"  Grace "  is  a  word  unknown  to  the  Chil- 
cats ;  every  wrong  demands  revenge.     So 


2l8  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

it  had  been  in  this  conflict.  First  a  Whale 
had  murdered  a  Crow ;  then  followed  re- 
taliation and  re-retaliation,  until  almost 
every  man  had  become  an  avenger  of 
blood. 

Gathering  these  people  together,  Mr, 
Willard  proclaimed  to  them  their  relation- 
ship to  the  one  true  God ;  he  explained 
the  law  of  God,  and  showed  how  they 
broke  it  and  were  living  in  hostility  to 
him,  so  that  they  must  perish  if  they  did 
not  yield  and  obey.  He  then  told  of  the 
love  of  God,  who  sent  his  Son  to  die — 
who  demanded  no  pay  for  his  Son's  life, 
but  freely  gave  him  to  save  his  enemies. 

This  preaching  lasted  an  hour  and  a  half, 
and  was  heard  attentively.  After  this  a 
man,  wounded  and  very  sick,  was  visited 
and  ministered  to  in  body  and  in  mind. 
One  of  the  poor  Whale  family,  heartbroken, 
was  about  to  commit  suicide.  The  preach- 
ing of  the  gospel  brought  light  to  his  mind 
and  decided  him  to  live  and  try  to  serve 
God. 

The  Indians  were  much  pleased  with  Mrs. 
Willard.    They  named  her  and  adopted  her 


xMODERN  HEROES.  219 

into  their  tribe,  giving  her  the  title  of  their 
greatest  treasure — a  carved  head  of  a  cin- 
namon bear  ornamented  with  copper.  This 
name  was  offered,  with  accompanying  gifts, 
on  the  Sabbath  evening,  after  the  day's 
preaching  and  teaching  had  somewhat  dis- 
posed the  Indians  to  harmony.  Mrs.  Wil- 
lard,  in  return  for  her  name  of  honor,  told 
them  of  Christ,  the  Elder  Brother,  and  of 
his  command  that  all,  for  his  sake,  should 
live  and  love  as  brethren,  not  avenging 
themselves,  but  putting  away  wrath.  The 
Indians  also  named  Mr.  Willard  and  the 
little  girl,  adopting  them  into  the  tribe. 

This  meeting  had  taken  place  in  the 
treasure-house  of  Shaterich,  which  was 
stored  with  blankets,  furs,  carved  vessels 
and  quantities  of  oil — all  the  varieties  of 
Indian  wealth,  for  Shaterich  was  a  very 
rich   Indian. 

On  Monday  the  missionaries  set  out  on 
their  return,  the  Indians  promising  to  keep 
the  peace  and  to  come  down  to  the  school 
when  the  food- gathering  time  was  over. 
At  night  they  remained  at  Don-a-wauk's 
and  had  another  meeting,  and  on  Tuesday 


220  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

arrived  at  their  home,  wet  through  from 
the  water  dashing  into  the  canoe,  but  safe 
and  well  and  cheered  in  their  work. 

Hardly  were  they  home  when  Don-a- 
wauk,  chief  of  the  Crows,  who  disapproved 
of  the  fighting  in  the  upper  village,  came 
to  them  sad  because  he  had  failed  to  secure 
the  wife  he  wished,  but  full  of  what  he  had 
seen  at  the  mission  at  Sitka.  The  school, 
the  church,  the  reading,  singing,  improved 
dress  and  health  and  houses  of  the  Indians, 
had  deeply  impressed  him.  He  desired 
just   the   same   things   for  the   Chilcats. 

Many  wants  of  the  mission  were  making 
themselves  felt.  There  was  no  way  of 
calling  the  people  together  except  by 
sendine  messengrers  from  house  to  house 
to  summon  to  school  or  church;  here 
came  the  need  of  bell  and  flag.  Then 
an  organ  was  needed  for  the  schoolhouse, 
for  these  Indians  are  passionately  fond 
of  music.  Mrs.  Willard's  piano,  for  her 
own  house,  was  yet  at  Sitka,  waiting  for 
transportation. 

And  here  we  will  tell  one  great  trou- 
ble   and    disadvantage    suffered   by   these 


MODERN  HEROES.  221 

missionaries,  but  leave  its  reasons  and  its 
remedy  for  a  future  chapter:  they  could 
not  get  transportation  for  their  household 
goods  or  stores.  This  compelled  them  to 
purchase  of  the  trader  at  very  exorbitant 
rates,  far  beyond  their  means,  and  also 
forced  them  to  make  too  much  use  of 
the  Indian  food,  which  was  unsuited  to 
them,  and  in  the  event  gready  injured  their 
health. 

Another  need  experienced  in  the  mission 
was  for  maps  and  globes.  The  Indians 
asked  question  upon  question  ;  the  simplest 
facts  were  difficult  to  explain,  because  there 
was  no  foundation  of  knowledge  of  the 
primary  principles  of  nature.  The  posi- 
tion of  a  country,  distances,  relationships, 
they  could  not  comprehend ;  a  round  w,orld 
was  too  great  a  proposition  for  their  appre- 
hension. Of  all  the  wants,  that  of  an  or- 
o-an  was  felt  the  most ;  for  the  Indians 
would  learn  to  sing  hymns,  and  in  the  thun- 
der of  their  powerful  voices  the  notes  of 
their  teacher  were  irretrievably  lost.  A 
canoe  was  also  needed :  the  mission-trips 
must  be  made,  or  the  Indians  could  not  be 


222  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

reached ;  but  every  trip  cost  five  or  ten 
dollars  for  a  canoe. 

Many  of  the  Indians  were  now^  anxious 
to  come  and  live  by  the  missionaries,  but 
there  were  no  houses,  and  no  saw-mill  to 
saw  the  lumber  to  make  houses ;  and  build- 
ing with  huge  logs,  cutting  and  dressing 
them  with  an  axe,  required  a  prodigious 
amount  of   hard  labor. 

Meanwhile,  good  news  came  from  the 
upper  villages.  The  Indians  were  resolved 
to  put  into  practice  what  they  had  been 
taught.  They  met,  laid  down  their  arms 
and  began  to  settle  their  troubles  by  an 
exchange  of  blankets.  The  wounded  man 
was  recoverinof.  The  Crows  took  a  Whale 
into  their  house,  ate  with  him  and  had  him 
sleep  there,  and  the  Whales  took  a  Crow  in 
the  same  way.  The  missionaries  now  felt 
that  all  would  eo  well  if  no  molasses  came 
up  by  steamer.  For  if  molasses,  then  hoo- 
chinoo ;  if  hoochinoo,  then  fights ;  if  fights, 
then  deaths ;  if  deaths,  then  revenges. 
Here  is  the  succession  of  "  Indian  trou- 
bles." It  is  the  same  everywhere :  whis- 
ky begins  a  long  train  of  disasters,  West 


MODERN  HEROES.  223 

and  North,  among  our  aborigines,  as  well 
as  among  our  white  citizens. 

The  Indians  were  now  frequently  coming 
to  the  station  and  brincrino^  all  their  troubles. 
The  subject  of  prayer  was  one  of  the  first 
to  take  hold  upon  their  minds.  They  came 
to  ask  the  missionary  to  teach  them  to  pray; 
also  if  it  were  right  to  ask  for  such  and 
such  things,  and  how  it  was  right  to  pray, 
and  how  soon  to  expect  answers.  Their 
ideas  of  faith  in  prayer  were  very  simple 
and  childlike.  One  man  from  a  distance 
came  weeping  to  be  taught  to  pray  for  his 
sick  boy.  He  wanted  God  asked  for 
"  prayers  to  make  him  well ;"  and  if  he 
must  die,  he  wanted  the  missionaries  to 
give  him  some  of  the  right  kind  of  food 
for  his  spirit,  to  sustain  it  on  its  long  journey 
to  Stickagow.  The  missionaries,  by  their 
interpreter,  explained  prayer  and  the  man- 
ner of  God  in  answer  to  prayer,  also  the 
happiness  of  children  after  death,  at  once 
rec^ved  by  Jesus,  having  no  long  hard 
journey,  no  need  of  anything. 

The  next  day  the  man  came  rushing 
back  wild  with  joy:    his  child  was    better. 


224  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

He  had  tound  him  in  a  swoon  hke  death; 
people  said  "  He  is  dead,"  but  presently 
he  came  to  himself,  looked  about,  spoke, 
was  recovering.     The  men  cried, 

"It  is  all  true  about  your  God.  My 
child  is  better." 

This  recalls   New-Testament  stories. 

Mrs.  Willard  had  considerable  knowledge 
of  medicine  and  nursing,  and  very  fortunate 
it  was,  for  her  skill  was  to  be  sorely  tested. 
Meanwhile  she  was  of  much  use  among 
the  sick,  and  won  the  love  and  the  eratitude 
of  the  Indians. 

During  the  last  of  October  a  very  re- 
markable movement  took  place.  Don-a- 
wauk's  whole  village  of  Tindestak  moved 
down  to  the  mission-station  for  the  privilege 
of  attending  school  and  to  learn  how  to  be 
good.  Hie  village  consisted  of  sixteen 
buildings  and  one  hundred  and  seventy 
two  people.  The  houses  abandoned  at 
Tindestak  had  cost  the  Indians  much,  and 
to  build  new  ones  at  Haines  would  cost 
much  more.  These  people  were  really 
abandoning  all  things  for  the  sake  of  learn- 
ing about  Christ. 


MODERN  HEROES.  225 

It  was  now  late  in  the  season ;  there  was 
no  saw-mill  near,  and  no  steam-launch  to 
convey  lumber  from  the  distant  mill.  All 
winter  the  people  must  suffer  many  incon- 
veniences. 

Don-a-wauk's  heathen  relatives  tried 
hard  to  get  him  to  marry  two  heathen 
wives,  but  he  staunchly  refused. 

The  school  was  full,  but  poorly  provided. 
Many  of  the  Indians  near  Haines  or  living 
at  the  station  were  yet  heathen  and  strongly 
opposed  to  the  new  teachers,  being  w^edded 
to  their  heathen  practices  of  slavery,  polyg- 
amy, cremation  and  shamanism.  The 
Indians  who  were  learning  most  were  still 
filled  with  their  ancient  superstitions  and 
much  in  the  dark,  while  it  was  difficult  to 
instruct  them  fully  and  clearly  through  an 
interpreter,  and  that  interpreter  a  half- 
Indian    child. 

Two  or  three  children  died  at  the  begin- 
ing  of  the  winter,  and  with  the  consent  of 
their  relatives  were  buried  in  Christian 
fashion  by  Mr.  Willard.  And  now  winter 
came  on,  and  in  terrible  earnest.  In  Sep- 
tember snow   had  fallen    on    the    adjacent 

15 


226  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

mountains,  but  by  the  ist  of  November 
the  snow  came  to  stay,  and  unhappily  it 
proved  a  very  severe  winter,  unusually 
cold  and  snowy,  while  the  newly-moved 
people  were  little  prepared  to  meet  inclem- 
ent weather,  having  half-built  houses  and 
insufficient  fuel. 

To  begin  the  story  of  the  winter's  woes 
with  the  weather. 

The  storms  were  of  unusual  violence, 
the  snow  driving  and  so  thick  as  to  hide 
objects  only  a  short  distance  away.  Dur- 
ing the  season  some  twenty-eight  feet  of 
snow  fell,  but,  owing  to  its  melting,  it  lay 
about  eight  feet  on  a  level,  while  there 
were  drifts  very  high.  The  missionaries 
had  not  received  all  their  furnishings, 
though  enough  to  make  the  home  com- 
fortable ;  on  the  rest  they  were  paying 
heavy  storage.  Their  supplies  of  food 
were  inadequate  in  quality  and  variety, 
as  food  belonging  to  them  was  kept  down 
the  river,  and  they  were  forced  to  pay 
double  price  for  scant  supplies  at  the 
trading-store  or  to  the  Indians.  The  In- 
dians   were    much     incommoded    by    the 


MODERN  HEROES.  227 

disastrous  weather,  and,  being  shut  up  in 
their  poor  homes,  with  nothing  to  do,  idle- 
ness naturally  bred  quarreling  and  a  re- 
verting to  their  old  superstitions. 

Fifty  Indians  painted  for  war  entered 
the  missionary's  house  early  in  February. 
Jack,  a  troublesome  native,  accused  an- 
other Indian  of  having  killed  his  wife. 
The  wife  belonged  to  Jack's  family  rela- 
tions, and  Jack  demanded  pay  for  hcj^, 
the  root  of  the  matter  being  that  Jack 
was  out  of  funds  and  resolved  to  raise 
some  money.  Mr.  Willard,  being  made 
judge,  jury  and  counsel  for  the  occasion, 
stated  that  the  whole  affair  must  be  left 
for  the  man-of-war,  and  he  would  take 
down  in  writing  all  they  had  to  say.  Then 
the  Indians,  ranged  in  two  rows,  painted 
red  and  black  and  with  heads  tied  up, 
bep"an  a  loud-voiced  session,  which  lasted 
from  one  until  eight  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon, poor  Kitty  being  sole  interpreter. 
Mr.  Willard  found  that  Jack  could  give 
no  proof  that  the  dead  woman  had  been 
murdered.  In  fact.  Jack  had  probably 
brought  a  false  accusation  in  the  vain  idea 

15 


228  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

that  Mr.  Willard  would  take  his  view  be- 
cause he  Hved  at  Haines,  Finally,  the 
parties  came  near  shooting-  and  stabbing, 
when  Mr,  Willard  became  very  peremp- 
tory and  laid  down  the  law,  threatening 
the  vengeance  of  the  man-of-war  if  they 
broke  peace.  Firm  dealing  had  a  fin€ 
effect,   and    the    Indians    departed    quietly. 

The  missionaries  invited  all  the  school- 
children— about  a  hundred — to  spend  an 
evening  in  the  middle  of  February  and 
play  games  and  sing.  After  a  joyful 
visit  they  had  some  religious  talk  and 
prayer,    and    went    home    happy. 

The  20th  of  February  the  missionaries 
went  on  snow-shoes  to  visit  the  villaofe 
houses,  as  they  did  weekly.  They  were 
charged  with  causing  all  the  trouble  and 
bad  weather.  The  older  heathen  Indians 
explained  their  charge.  The  gods  of  the 
country  were  angry  at  the  new  ways. 
United  States  relisfion  did  not  suit  a 
stormy  country  like  Alaska ;  the  weather- 
gods  were  incensed  and  must  be  placated. 
First,  the  dead  children  had  been  buried, 
not  burned;   second,   Mr.  Willard  commit- 


MODERN  HEROES.  229 

ted  the  crime  of  putting  on  his  snow-shoes 
in  the  house ;  third,  in  their  games  the 
school-children  were  allowed  to  make  cries 
like  those  of  the  wild  goose.  Hence  the 
fearful  weather ! 

On  the  next  Sunday  hardly  any  one  ex- 
cept children  came  to  church.  On  Monday 
the  mother  of  one  of  the  buried  children 
came  in  sad  distress :  the  people  charged 
her  with  being  the  cause  of  the  storm. 
Jack  and  others  had  gone  seal-fishing ;  and 
if  they  were  lost,  the  Indians  meant  to  kill 
this  woman,  who  caused  all  the  trouble  by 
burying,  not  burning,  her  child.  The  other 
mothers  had  been  frightened  into  finding 
the  graves  and  building  great  fires  on  them 
"  to  bring  fair  weather."  They  thought 
these  fires   had  brought  two  fine  days. 

Then  came  more  Indians.  Their  food 
was  gone  ;  the  storehouses  were  buried  un- 
der snow,  so  that  they  could  not  enter  them. 
Such  weather  was  never  before  known: 
it  resulted  from  the  burials.  Mr.  Willard 
talked  long  against  their  superstitions,  and 
said  he  could  not  consent  to  encourage 
their  heathen   practices. 


230  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

The  next  Sabbath  only  sixty  were  at 
church ;  all  the  rest  were  digging  in  the 
snow  to  find  the  graves,  to  build  fires  on 
them.  Then  a  little  girl  carelessly  stood 
out  of  doors  to  comb  her  hair,  and  this 
was  witchcraft — deadly  witchcraft ;  and 
her  head  was  sheared  and  her  hair  burned 
in  a  ofreat  fire  on  the  beach.  Next,  an 
unhappy  father  and  mother  who  had  re- 
ceived some  light  brought  their  daughter 
to  the  missionaries,  the  Indians  threatening 
to  kill  her  as  a  witch  if  her  parents  did  not 
shut  her  up  in  a  hut  for  several  months, 
in  the  manner  before  described.  The  par- 
ents related  terrible  stories  of  young  girls 
murdered  before  the  missionaries  came. 
This  girl  was  one  of  the  best  pupils  in  the 
school,  and  of  course  the  missionary  under- 
took her  protection. 

The  weather  changed  for  the  better  on 
March  ist.  The  Indians  had  by  that  time 
dug  the  graves  free  of  snow  and  made  their 
fire,  and  they  attributed  the  improvement 
to  that. 

Owing  to  the  severe  weather,  the  steamer 
looked  for  on  March   i  st  did  not  come  up, 


MODERN  HEROES.  23 1 

and  by  the  last  of  the  month  sickness  added 
to  the  troubles  at  the  mission-station,  Mr. 
Willard  was  taken  with  violent  pains  in 
his  head  and  with  faintings.  The  small- 
pox broke  out  among  the  Indians,  and 
many  died.  We  are  to  remember  that 
these  missionaries  were  miles  and  miles 
from  any  white  person  ;  no  physician  was 
within  a  hundred  miles,  and  no  nurse.  If 
they  were  ill,  there  was  no  one  to  aid 
them ;  if  they  died,  no  one  to  bury  them. 
And  in  this  situation  the  small-pox  invaded 
the  mission-house. 

The  baby,  Carrie,  had  the  small-pox,  and 
Mr.  Willard  was  alarmingly  ill.  Mrs.  Wil- 
lard nursed  them  both,  but  by  the  time  Mr. 
Willard  was  out  of  bed  she  was  ill,  with 
her  babe  yet  sick.  Mr.  Willard  now  took 
his  turn  as  nurse,  and  Mrs.  Willard,  bol- 
stered up  in  her  rocking-chair,  would  be 
dragged  to  the  side  of  the  sitting-room 
stove,  and  there  nurse  her  sick  little  one. 

With  all  these  dangers  and  sorrows  by 
the  domestic  hearth,  they  had  also  to  con- 
tend with  the  ignorance,  superstition  and 
hate    of    the    Indians — hate,    not    to    their 


232  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

teachers,  but  to  one  another.  Man  never 
falls  too  low  for  vanity  and  pride.  These 
Indians,  in  all  their  degradation,  have  a 
wonderful  amount  of  caste-feeling.  Thus, 
the  Chilcats  hold  themselves  infinitely  su- 
perior to  the  Sticks,  the  tribe  lying  beyond 
them  in  the  interior.  For  years  they  have 
robbed  and  abused  the  Sticks,  and  have 
done  all  in  their  power  to  keep  them  from 
coming  to  the  coast  to  trade.  The  Chil- 
cats desire  to  buy  furs  and  other  goods 
from  the  Sticks  for  almost  nothingf,  and 
then  themselves  sell  these  to  the  white 
men  at  high  prices.  They  do  not  wish  the 
Sticks  to  have  missionaries  or  any  inter- 
course with  the  whites,  lest  they  "  become 
men,"  for  now  they  regard  them  "  as 
beasts." 

"The  Sticks,"  say  the  Chilcats,  "are  our 
money;  out  of  them  our  fathers  got  rich, 
and  so  must  we.  They  are  wild  ;  they  are 
not  men." 

To  keep  the  unlucky  Sticks  from  going 
to  the  coast  or  near  the  missionaries,  the 
Chilcats  told  them  fearful  tales  of  how  they 
would  be  killed,  and  as  soon  as  a  Stick  In- 


MODERN  HEROES.  233 

dian  entered  the  village  the  Chilcats  hunted 
him  like  a  dog.  Mr,  Willard,  on  the  other 
hand,  watched  for  the  Sticks,  caught  every 
one  that  came,  took  him  to  his  home,  treated 
him  well,  gave  him  some  little  token  of 
kindness  and  explained  to  him  the  gospel 
of  Jesus  Christ.  From  this  the  poor  creat- 
ures gained  courage,  and  at  last  one 
brought  Mr.  Willard  a  fine  squirrel-robe, 
and  Mr,  Willard  paid  him  for  it  the  same 
price  that  he  would  have  given  to  a  Chil- 
cat.  At  this  the  Chilcats  became  furious 
and  assailed  Mr,  Willard,  declaring  that 
he  was  their  enemy  and  robbed  them  by 
dealing  with  the  Sticks,  Mr,  Willard,  on 
his  part,  plainly  stated  to  them  the  laws 
of  honesty  in  trade.  He  accused  them 
of  cheating  and  lying  to  the  Sticks,  and 
showed  them  how  they  angered  the  Lord 
by  striving  to  injure  the  Sticks  in  body 
and  in  soul.  The  doctrine  of  universal 
brotherhood  and  of  human  equality  before 
God  came  next,  and  this  was  a  hard  lesson 
for  the  Chilcats  to  learn, 

Clanot,  the  head-man  of  the  village,  was 
very  angry  at  this ;  he  tried  to  show  that 


234  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

he  was  as  superior  to  a  Stick  as  the  sun 
is  to  a  spark.  He  said  he  was  disappoint- 
ed in  the  missionaries ;  he  expected  them 
to  make  much  of  him  and  build  him  a  fine 
house,  and,  instead  of  that,  the  preacher 
set  him  on  a  par  with  the  Sticks  and  told 
him  he  must  have  only  one  wife  instead 
of  three.  This  discourse  of  Clanot  shows 
the  difficulties  with  which  the  missionaries 
must  meet  in  breaking  up  this  fallow 
ground  of  hearts  that  have  never  had 
the  message  of  sin,  of  righteousness  and 
of  judgment  to  come. 

April  5th  was  a  white  day  at  Haines. 
The  steamer  Favorite  came  up — the  first 
steamer  for  five  months.  Fancy  the  eager 
joy,  the  trembling  fear,  the  thankfulness, 
with  which  letters  were  received  after  this 
period  of  entire  seclusion  from  the  outer 
world.  And  then  with  the  letters  came 
a  handsome  flag  from  Joliet,  Illinois,  and 
Mrs.  Willard's  piano,  saved  from  the  Sitka 
fire,  and  also  the  sad  news  of  the  catastro- 
phe. The  Indians  hurried  to  the  mission- 
house  to  see  the  flag  and  "  to  hear  the 
music  iro." 


MODERN  HEROES.  235 

The  last  of  April  the  rivers  were  free, 
and  a  great  run  of  herring  came  up  to 
Nauk  Bay.  Of  course  the  Indians  set 
off  at  once  to  get  their  needed  food,  and 
the  villaee  was  almost  deserted.  The  snow 
still  lay  on  the  ground,  but  the  weather  was 
mild,  and  the  snow  melted  fast.  Summer 
with  its  vegetation  comes  here  with  a  leap, 
like  the  spring  of  Harlequin  into  the  ring. 
"Here  I  am!"  says  the  man  in  motley. — 
"  Here  I  am !"  cries  Summer  in  Alaska, 
and  flings  in  your  face  a  handful  of  flow- 
ers that  seem  to  have  been  gathered  from 
under  the  snow. 

When  the  missionaries  found  that  the 
people  were  all  gone,  they  packed  up  a 
few  things  and  followed  them  to  the  fish- 
ing-ground  to  try  to  have  Sabbath  services. 
Some  of  the  Indians  were  very  glad  to 
see  their  teachers,  but  some  were  very 
sorry,  as  it  would  interfere  with  Sunday 
work. 

Our  Eastern  lads  would  wonder  at  Chil- 
cat  fishing.  Canoes  were  taken  out,  with 
a  woman  or  child  to  paddle,  and  in  the 
canoe   stood  a  man  with  a  long  pole,  the 


236  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

end  of  which  was  set  with  sharpened  nails. 
The  fisher  swept  his  pole  paddle-wise 
through  the  water,  and  after  every  sweep 
brought  it  up  with  five  or  six  fish  sticking 
to  the  nails.  These  he  shook  off  into  the 
canoe,  and  in  a  very  little  while  it  was  half 
full.  On  shore  the  women  and  children 
cleaned  the  piles  of  fish.  The  women  dug 
great  basins  in  the  beach,  cleaned  the 
fish  in  these,  and  strung  them  on  willow 
wands  to  dry. 

Now,  on  Sunday  morning,  Mr.  Willard 
hoisted  the  flaof  on  a  cliff  over  the  fishinor- 
station,  gathered  a  few  of  the  school-chil- 
dren and  began  singing  hymns  to  open 
worship.  But  most  of  the  Indians  were 
bent  on  herring-catching,  so  they  took 
eight  canoes  and  went  out ;  and,  lo !  the 
fish  were  all  gone.  They  came  back 
angry,  saying  that  the  missionaries  had 
driven  off  the  fish.  In  revenge  for  this 
fancied  act  of  the  missionaries,  the  In- 
dians all  began  to  work  busily,  cleaning 
Saturday's  fish,  building  booths,  whittling 
wands  and  making  fires.  Mr.  Willard 
then  went  down  among  them  and  preached 


MODERN  HEROES.  237 

to  them  as  they  worked,  telHng  them  how 
wrong"  they  were  and  how  they  could  have 
the  blessing  of  God  when  they  did  right. 
Some  of  them  stopped  work ;  others  came 
in  the  afternoon  to  a  service. 

Mrs.  Willard  had  for  some  time  seen 
that  there  must  be  a  home  to  shelter  chil- 
dren, especially  girls.  One  little  orphan 
had  been  offered  her,  but  she  had  no  clothes 
and  little  space  for  her,  and  no  authority 
from  home  to  open  such  a  refuge  as  the 
one  at  Fort  Wrano-ell.  But  there,  on  that 
Sabbath,  was  this  poor  little  girl,  cold, 
shivering,  half  naked,  frightened,  crying" 
over  her  fish-cleaning,  that  she  believed  to 
be  a  sin.  Mrs.  Willard's  heart  ached  for 
the  miserable  little  mite.  She  resolved  to 
save  her ;  so  she  went  among  the  people 
and  offered  to  take  the  orirl  for  her  own. 
They  said  they  were  "  very  glad  to  get  rid 
of  her;"  so  on  Monday  morning,  Mrs. 
Willard  took  the  child  back  to  the  station, 
and  then —  The  home  at  Haines  had 
started  itself,  just  as  the  home  at  Wrangell 
and  the  home  at  Sitka  had  done. 

A    dreadful    little    girl    this    was.      Her 


238  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

long  hair  was  matted  ;  licr  skin  was  filthy ; 
she  had  notJiing  on  but  a  ragged  cotton  shp 
which  she  had  worn  all  winter;  and  she 
was  thin  from  being  only  half  fed.  Here 
was  more  missionary  work. 

Mrs.  Willard  put  her  new  girl  into  a  tub 
of  hot  water  and  scoured  her  from  head  to 
foot  with  carbolic  soap,  and  then  cleaned, 
combed  and  braided  her  long  soft  hair. 

I  know  a  great  many  people  who  will 
feel  that  this  work  was  the  greatest  of  all 
Mrs.  Willard's  acts  of  self-sacrifice.  Well, 
then  the  little  waif,  who  had  had  her  supper, 
was  put  into  a  clean  night-dress  and  into 
a  clean  bed,  taught  to  say  a  prayer,  and 
for  the  first  time  in  her  life  got  a  kiss  for 
good-night.  But  there  in  her  nice  bed  she 
was  such  a  different  little  girl — bright, 
clean,  soft,  with  smooth  skin,  well-combed 
hair  and  a  smile  on  her  face.  But  there 
were  no  clothes  for  her  until  that  kind  lady, 
overworked  and  half  sick,  made  the  little 
stranger  a  full  suit,  with  deer-skin  shoes. 

Here  was  one  little  girl  safe,  but  half  a 
dozen  more  were  imploring  to  be  taken  ; 
and   Mrs.  Willard    beijan    to    write   to  the 


MODERN  HEROES.  239 

committee  for  a  home — a  home  for  these 
homeless  ones. 

Now  came  even  worse  trouble.  Mrs. 
Willard  was  very  ill :  it  was  thought  she 
would  die ;  and  while  she  was  so  low  Mr. 
Willard  hurt  his  hand  severely  in  digging 
his  garden.  Exposure  and  poor  food  had 
weakened  his  blood ;  his  wound  took  a 
malignant  type,  and,  as  they  had  no  surgeon 
and  no  proper  remedies,  it  seemed  that  he 
must  die.  Hope  fled,  but  faith  and  prayer 
remained;  and  in  God's  mercy  the  wound 
healed,  which  seemed  little  short  of  a  mir- 
acle. Then  the  little  Indian  girl  and  baby 
Carrie  Willard  took  scarlet  fever  of  a  severe 
type,  and  there  was  no  one  to  help.  Mr. 
Willard  could  hardly  stand;  Mrs.  Willard 
could  not  stand ;  the  two  children  were 
sick  on  their  beds.  For  so  long  had  they 
no  proper  hot  food  that  they  all  nearly 
died  of  exhaustion.  Mr.  Dickinson  heard 
of  their  trouble  and  came  up  and  cooked 
for  them,  and  nursed  them  as  well  as  he 
could.  By  the  last  of  June  the  children 
were  well,  and  all  were  better. 

In  the  mean  time,  two   Indian   Christian 


240  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

teachers  had  been  sent  up  from  Fort  Wran- 
gell  to  the  upper  Chilcat  village  where  Shat- 
erich  lived.  These  were  Tillie  and  Louie 
Paul,  formerly  pupils  in  the  Fort  Wrangell 
schools.  Tillie  was  one  of  the  first  four 
girls  who  received  protection  from  Mrs. 
McFarland.  She  is  a  half-breed  or  Creole. 
She  advanced  rapidly,  became  a  good 
housekeeper  and  seamstress,  and  for  a 
year  and  a  half  was  interpreter  and  assist- 
ant teacher  at  Fort  Wrans^ell,  succeedino- 
Mrs.  Dickinson  in  that  office.  On  the  8th 
of  January,  1882,  Tillie  and  Louie  were 
married  by  Mr.  Young,  and  as  soon  as 
spring  opened  were  sent  to  the  upper  Chil- 
cat village,  which  was  named  Willard. 

Indian  teachers  do  not  have  the  author- 
ity of,  nor  meet  with  the  respect  accorded 
to,  a  white  teacher.  The  Indians  are  less 
easily  influenced  by  them,  especially  if  they 
are  alone  in  their  station. 

Tillie  and  Louie  Paul  had  many  discour- 
agements. Their  school  at  once  numbered 
sixty,  and  they  made  for  themselves  a  gar- 
den ;  but  the  Indians  came  and  took  away 
the  house  given   to  the  mission  by  Shate- 


MODERN  HEROES.  24 1 

rich,  and  tore  it  down.  Mr.  Willard  pre- 
pared to  go  to  the  rescue  of  these  teachers 
the  last  of  June,  before  he  was  really 
recovered  from  his  illness ;  but,  meantime, 
the  young  couple  came  down  to  Haines  to 
tell  their  troubles. 

Besides  all  this,  the  provisions  forwarded 
to  the  Willards  by  the  Board  of  Missions 
had  not  reached  them,  and  day  by  day  they 
o-rew  weaker  from  starvation.  And  thus 
ended  a  year  of  terrible  trial,  privation  and 
labor. 

Mrs.  Willard's  health  seemed  ruined  by 
what  she  had  endured. 

If  the  missionaries  had  had  a  boat  at 
their  own  disposal,  many  of  their  sufferings 
for  lack  of  food,  nursing,  medical  attendance 
and  medicine  might  have  been  spared 
them.  Without  a  boat  they  were  entirely 
at  the  mercy  of  Indians  and  traders.  Dr. 
Jackson,  at  his  visit  in  1882,  secured  for 
Mr.  Willard  a  good  boat  capable  of  holding 
thirty  people. 

But  news  of  the  deep  afflictions  of  these 
devoted  servants  of  the  Church  had  at  last 
reached   those  who  had    sent   them    forth, 

16 


242  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

and  Christian  sympathy  awoke  in  their 
behalf.  The  ladies  of  the  Synod  of  Harris- 
burg  contributed  money  to  build  the  much- 
needed  home.  The  bell  was  sent.  In 
August,  1882,  Dr.  Jackson  set  out  for 
another  trip  to  Alaska,  and  took  Miss 
Bessie  Matthews  of  Monmouth,  Illinois,  as 
assistant  teacher  at  the  Haines  mission. 

The  ladies  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
finding  such  instant  demand  for  their  help, 
have  now  begun  to  send  to  the  station  at 
Haines  the  indispensable  comforts  and  the 
clothing  requisite  for  the  school.  It  is  to 
be  hoped  that  the  worst  trials  there  are 
passed. 

Early  in  August  the  news  reached  Sitka 
of  the  desperate  straits  to  which  the  Wil- 
lards  were  reduced ;  a  small  steamer  was 
at  once  despatched  to  their  relief,  and  Mrs. 
Austin  accompanied  it  to  take  charge  of 
the  sick.  Upon  reaching  Haines  she  was 
much  shocked  to  see  the  state  of  exhaustion 
to  which  care,  toil,  suffering  and  lack  of  prop- 
er nourishment  had  reduced  Mrs.  Willard. 

She  at  once  removed  her  to  Sitka  for 
medical    attendance.     The  missionaries  at 


MODERN  HEROES.  243 

Sitka  greatly  feared  that  here  was  another 
valuable  life  sacrificed  to  the  straitened 
circumstances  to  which  lack  of  sufficient 
home-missionary  funds  reduce  our  mission- 
aries. God  has,  however,  been  better  than 
our  fears.  Mrs.  Willard  rallied  beyond  ex- 
pectation. 

On  the  13th  of  September  she  became 
the  mother  of  a  son,  and,  cared  for  and 
encouraged  by  her  friends,  looked  forward 
to  returning  to  her  mission-post  and  open- 
ing the  home  which  her  faithful  '^^^  man- 
eagerly  desired.  ^wing,  they 

•-d   as   a 
"rio   up 


CHAPTER    X. 

STANDARDS  SET   UP. 

WHEN   the   industrial  home  at  Fort 
Wrangell    was    built,    one    of    the 
carpenters  working  upon  it  was  Mr,  James 
Hames  .man,    from    Ohio.       During    the 
clothing  r^.^Kendall,  Jackson  and  Linds- 
be   hoien     the     Presbyterian    church    was 
V^sezed,    Mr.    Chapman    united    on   pro- 
fession of  his  faith.     He  remained  in  Alas- 
ka, busy  at  his  trade  and  helping  heartily 
in    mission-work    wherever    he    was,    until 
Dr.  Jackson  visited  there  in   1881   and  se- 
cured him  to  open  the  mission-work  among 
the    Hydahs    with    a    school,    at    Howkan. 
Here,   Dr.    Jackson    left    him  (August    25, 
1 881),  giving  him  a  few  Bibles,  wall-charts, 
a  flaof,  a  blackboard  and  a  small  and   in- 
sufficient    equipment    of   books,    primers, 
pencils,    and    so    on — all    that    could    be 

244 


STANDARDS  SET  UP.  245 

spared.*  The  Hydah  Indians  gave  a 
warm  welcome  to  their  teacher,  and  for 
the  use  of  the  school  Chief  Skulekah 
generously  offered  a  house  until  they 
could  build. 

Mr.  Chapman's  goods  and  provisions 
had  been  left  at  Klawack,  and  on  Au- 
gust 27th  he  asked  some  Indians  to  take 
him  in  a  canoe  to  get  them.  The  Indians 
hesitated,  on  the  score  of  pay ;  but  Mr. 
Chapman  told  them  the  Lord  was  able 
to  provide  bountiful  pay  in  some  man- 
ner yet  unknown.  On  this  showing,  they 
agreed  to  go  and  trust  the  Lord  as  a 
paymaster.  Not  far  on  in  the  trip  up 
rose  a  fine  sea-otter,  which  they  pursued 
and  took,  and  the  skin  brought  them  one 
hundred  dollars,  making  it  a  very  profit- 
able voyage,  to  the  amazement  of  the 
Indians.  At  Klawack  they  spent  the  Sab- 
bath, having  interesting  services,  which 
were  attended  not  only  by  the  Indians, 
but  by  the  white  men  at  that  station. 

At   Klawack  are  a  salmon-canninof  fac- 

*  Which  suggests  that  at  Sitka  we  should  have  a  certain  stock 
of  such  school-materials  to  draw  on  in  emergency. 


246  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

tory,  a  trading-store  and  various  houses. 
At  Roberts,  north  of  Klawack,  are  a 
lumber-mill  and  a  trading-post,  where  a 
very  admirable  location  has  been  pointed 
out  for  a  mission-village. 

Matthew,  one  of  Mr.  Young's  Indian 
church-members,  was  present  at  Mr.  Chap- 
man's meeting  at  Klawack,  leading  in 
prayer  and  making  an  excellent  address 
in  Chinook. 

The  30th  of  August,  Mr.  Chapman  re- 
turned to  Jackson,  his  Hydah  station,  and, 
gathering  some  of  his  Indian  friends,  went 
into  the  woods  for  lumber.  The  Indian 
house  offered  for  the  school  had  no  floor 
and  no  partitions  ;  a  floor  was  laid  and  a 
room  partitioned  off  for  Mr.  Chapman's 
apartment.  When  Rev.  Dr.  Jackson  came 
up  in  August,  he  had  brought  a  bell,  and 
in  1882  a  saw-mill — donations  of  individ- 
uals for  this   Hydah  station. 

On  the  day  when  Mr.  Chapman  finished 
altering  his  schoolhouse  the  United  States 
survey  ship  Hasler  came  into  the  bay  at 
Jackson.  The  ship  remained  a  week,  mak- 
ing surveys  and  taking  soundings,  and  as- 


STANDARDS  SET  UP.  247 

certained  that  the  anchorage  was  excellent 
and  there  would  be  no  hindrance  to  vessels 
of  any  size  entering-  the  bay.  The  beach 
was  good,  with  four  streams ;  an  excellent 
mill-site  was  at  hand. 

Mr.  Chapman  was  invited  to  bring  a 
canoe-load  of  Indians  aboard  the  Hasler, 
where  they  were  kindly  entertained,  the 
officers  playing  for  them  on  violin  and 
piano  and  showing  them  many  curious 
things. 

On  the  1 2th  of  September  school  was 
opened  with  thirty-five  pupils,  the  number 
quickly  increasing  to  eighty.  The  Hydahs, 
as  Mr.  Chapman  says,  "  tried,  from  the  first 
of  his  coming,  to  do  their  very  best." 

When  Christmas  came,  none  of  the  far- 
away friends  had  thought  to  send  any  gifts 
to  Jackson  for  the  Hydahs.  If  only  a 
hundred  cards  or  a  four-pound  parcel  of 
illuminated  paper  books,  with  a  supply  of 
work-bags,  needlebooks,  pocket-pincush- 
ions and  handkerchiefs — things  that  in  the 
aggregate  would  not  have  cost  more  than 
five  or  six  dollars — had  gone  to  that  lonely 
station,    how   happy  it   would    have    made 


248  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

the  recipients !  Thus  we  miss  golden  op- 
portunities for  sending  treasure  on  before 
us  into  heaven. 

Mr.  Chapman  still  kept  the  Christmas 
holiday.  He  trimmed  the  schoolhouse  and 
the  flag  with  ferns,  evergreens  and  moss. 
He  had  some  numbers  of  Harper  s  Weekly 
and  the  Ilhistrated  Christian  Weekly,  and, 
cutting  out  the  pictures  from  these,  he 
decorated  the  walls  ;  then,  calling  his  In- 
dians together,  he  told  them  he  had  noth- 
ing for  them  but  a  warm  heart  and  a  little 
Bible  talk  on  the  birth  of  the  Saviour. 
The  Indians  said  that  was  quite  enough. 

As  the  teacher  talked  of  Christ,  who 
came  to  Bethlehem,  and  was  ready  now 
to  come  into  every  waiting  heart,  the  poor 
Indians  were  deeply  interested.  One,  as 
the  wind  hurtled  by  the  door,  said, 

•*  I  hear  some  one  at  the  door.  Perhaps 
it  is  the  Christ  come  now  to  us ;  I  must  go 
and  let  him  in."  So  he  went,  but,  finding 
no  one,  said  sadly,  "  I  did  not  go  fast  enough. 
Who  knows  but  he  has  gone  ?" 

In  the  spring  of  1882,  Rev.  J.  L.  Gould 
and  wife  were  commissioned  to  the  Hydahs, 


STANDARDS  SET   UP.  249 

the  Station  having  been  named  "  Jackson," 
and  September  lo,  1882,  Miss  Clara  Gould, 
sister  of  Mr.  Gould,  arrived  there  as  assist- 
ant. Mrs.  James  M.  Ham  of  Brooklyn 
raised  the  money  for  the  purchase  of  the 
saw-mill  at  this  station.  Mr.  Gould  writes: 
"  It  requires  a  fabulous  amount  of  manual 
labor  to  do  something  here — more  than  the 
home-mission  Board  can  realize :  goods 
carried  in  canoes,  carried  ashore,  carried 
up  bank,  carried  as  far  as  needed.  And 
to  clear  and  level  even  a  small  plat  of 
ground  for  mission-buildings  is  an  enor- 
mous task.  .  .  .  The  villages  are  deserted 
from  May  to  September,  while  we  must 
follow  the  people  to  hunting-  and  fishing 
grounds.  In  September  the  real  school- 
work  of  the  year  begins."  Mr  Gould  pays 
a  deserved  compliment  to  Mr.  Chapman  : 
"  He  is  indispensable."  Says  Mr.  Gould: 
"  We  are  in  superlative  perplexity  how  to 
manage  about  family,  church,  school, 
steamer,  mail,  lumber  for  the  coming  winter. 
Still,  we  are  having  a  good  time,  and  pro- 
pose to  be  equal  to  coming  emergencies." 
The    missionary-tour  of    Dr.  Jackson  in 


250  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

1 88 1  is  thus  described  in  a  Pordand  paper; 
"  Dr.  Sheldon  Jackson,  who  introduced  the 
first  Protestant  missionaries  into  South- 
eastern Alaska,  was  a  passenger  down  on 
the  steamer  Los  Angelos.  This  is  the 
doctor's  third  trip  in  that  section.  On  this 
trip  he  established  new  missions  among  the 
Hydahs  and  Hoonyahs,  located  three  mis- 
sion families,  erected  substantial  buildings 
at  the  Chilcat  and  Hoonyah  stations,  and 
fitted  up  a  schoolhouse  at  Hydah.  He 
visited  fifteen  Indian  villages,  and  preached 
in  the  majority  of  them.  The  trip  among 
the  villages  was  mostly  made  in  canoes." 

In  May,  1882,  Rev.  Mr.  Young  went  up 
to  the  Hydah  mission  with  Rev.  Mr.  Gould. 
The  Hydahs  were  already  off  to  their 
hunting-grounds,  but  the  missionaries  fol- 
lowed them  up,  held  councils,  preached 
and  perfected  plans  for  the  missions. 
This  was  not  Mr.  Young's  first  trip  to  the 
Hydahs,  as  he  had  previously  visited  them 
in  April,  1880. 

The  Hydahs  had  visited  Fort  Wrangell 
and  attracted  attention  as  an  uncommonly 
fine-looking  and  intelligent  set  of  Indians. 


STANDARDS  SET  UP.  25  I 

They  were  interrogated  as  to  their  families, 
and,  owing  to  their  inabihty  to  count  in 
high  numbers,  the  census  of  the  tribe  was 
greatly  over-estimated. 

As  above  stated,  in  April,  1880,  Rev.  Mr. 
Young,  Rev.  Mr.  Lyon  and  certain  Chris- 
tian Indians,  with  two  Hydah  chiefs,  left 
Fort  Wrangell,  and,  going  south  through 
sounds  and  straits  to  Prince  of  Wales 
Island,  sailing  amid  scenery  of  unequaled 
beauty,  came  to  Kusan,  the  finest  of  all  the 
Indian  villages  of  the  archipelago.  Here 
were  the  best  Indian  houses  and  the  most 
elaborate  totem-poles  on  all  that  coast. 
The  village  was  clean  and  picturesque,  the 
Hydahs  at  home  seeming  as  superior  to 
the  other  tribes  as  did  Hydahs  abroad. 
The  Indians  were  most  of  them  away,  but 
the  chief's  mother  opened  his  house,  which 
was  large,  furnished  with  sash  and  door, 
carved  and  painted,  and  possessing  some 
furniture  and  pictures,  Roman  Catholic 
priests  had  visited  this  village  and  taken 
two  of  the  chief's  boys  to  educate  in  the 
Catholic  school  at  New  Westminster. 

In  front  of  one  chief's  house  was  a  pole 


252  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

carved  in  eagles'  heads,  white  men's  faces 
and  scroll-work  of  rare  beauty.  This  was 
executed  by  Kenowan,  the  finest  jewel- 
worker  and  native  carver  on  the  coast. 
Mr.  and  Mrs,  Young  adopted  Kenowan's 
little  daughter,  Susy,  a  very  bright  girl 
with  some  of  her  father's  gifts.  Susy  looks 
like  a  pretty  white  girl. 

Pushing  on,  the  missionaries  found  Chief 
Sanheit,  who,  though  somewhat  under  Rom- 
ish influences,  talked  sensibly  and  said  that 
only  a  mission  would  save  his  people  from 
extinction,  and  that  he  must  at  once  have 
a  school.  He  promised  cordial  support  to 
a  Protestant  missionary.  Still  passing  on 
among  the  Hydah  villages,  they  secured  a 
granddaughter  of  another  chief  for  Mrs, 
McFarland's  home. 

At  Kusan  a  council  was  held.  The 
Hydahs  said  they  had  visited  Metlahkatlah 
and  wanted  just  such  a  mission — an  in- 
dustrial Christian  village  with  church  and 
schools,  with  "  United  States  homes,"  saw- 
mill, boat  and  agriculture. 

"  It  is  impossible,"  said  the  Hydah  chief, 
"for  our  young  men   to  break  away  from 


STANDARDS  SET  UP.  253 

old  customs  and  old  vices  so  long  as  they 
live  crowded,  many  in  a  one-room  house. 
They  live  then  in  dirt  and  talk  and  do 
wrong  things.  We  ask  no  gifts ;  we  will 
buy  lumber  and  goods  and  build  a  new 
town.  Bring  us  a  saw-mill:  the  mill  shall 
pay  its  bringer  well." 

Now,  this  was  Indian  talk — Hydah  talk 
— and  what  better,  more  honest  talk  could 
we  ask  ? 

Kow,  an  aged  and  blind  chief,  was  earn- 
estly seeking  the  salvation  of  his  soul. 
Like  a  child  he  sat  and  listened  and 
questioned,  and,  says  the  missionary,  "  I 
could  not  talk  long  enough  about  the 
Saviour  to  satisfy  him." 

Still  passing  on  among  the  Hydahs,  the 
cry  was  for  "  saw-mill  and  school." 

"  Once,"  said  the  Hydahs,  "  we  were 
strong  and  many,  but  white  men  came ; 
then  came  vice,  disease,  drunkenness,  crime, 
death.  One  by  one  we  die  fast  like  the 
leaves." 

Then,  to  their  great  joy,  they  saw  an- 
other kind  of  whites,  who  brought  them 
word   of    a   good     God,    and    of    schools, 


254  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

books  and  liclp,  and  by  these  they  should 
be  repaid  for  the  evil. 

Mr.  Young  says  the  trip  was  disappoint- 
ing in  only  one  regard :  they  found  that  the 
Hydahs  were  less  numerous  than  they 
had  expected.  They  have  died  off  terri- 
bly in  the  last  twenty  years. 

Mr.  Young  ends  the  account  of  his  trip 
to  the  Hydahs  by  saying:  "The  call  is 
loud  and  urgent.  First  Chilcat,  then  Hy- 
dah,  then  Hoonyah,  and  we  have  control 
of  Southern  Alaska."  This  cry  came  in 
July,  1880.  We  have  seen  that  one  year 
later  missions  were  well  established  in 
Chilcat,   Hydah  and  Hoonyah. 

To  return  to  Mr.  Gould's  work. 

Mr.  Gould  had  left  his  wife  at  Fort 
Wrangell  while  he  went  down  to  Jackson, 
the  Hydah  station,  to  prepare  a  shelter 
and  collect  the  Indians  at  the  mission. 
He  writes,  June  17,  1882:  "Old  Chief 
Skuli  died  last  night ;  he  said  he  was  not 
afraid  to  die.  I  cannot  tell  how  much  the 
poor  old  man  understood  of  God,  himself, 
or  the  future,  but,  I  trust,  enough  to  be 
saved.      We    are    making   quiet    prepara- 


STANDARDS  SET  UP.  255 

tions  for  a  Christian  burial.  Young  Chief 
Skuli,  his  heir,  is  one  of  our  best  men." 
Before  the  end  of  June,  Mr.  Gould  had 
two  funerals  and  one  wedding  conducted 
in  religious  style — "  almost  decently  and 
in  order,"  says  the  encouraged  missionary. 
One  Indian  here — Skuleka — had  for  two 
years  kept  the  body  of  his  young  son, 
waiting  for  a  preacher  to  come  live 
among  them  and  to  bury  him.  This 
body  was  now  buried.  It  is  a  pathetic 
tale  of  waiting. 

The  absence  of  all  the  Indians  at  hunt- 
ing and  fishing  prevented  work  on  the 
mission-buildings  from  moving  forward 
properly,  and  this  in  its  turn  disappoints 
the  Indians,  who  expect,  when  a  teacher 
arrives,  to  see  mission-premises  and  "  Bos- 
ton living"  rise  out  of  the  ground  as  by 
magic. 

The  Hydahs  are  remarkably  zealous 
for  education,  but  more  than  any  tribe 
look  upon  religion  in  a  business  light 
and  desire  it  for  the  staying  of  the  de- 
struction of  their  race  and  for  building 
them    up    in    prosperity.      All    who    have 


256  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

visited  this  tribe  agree  that  they  are  of 
the  finest  and  most  promising  of  the 
Alaskans,  vigorous,  brave,  acute,  perse- 
vering, quick  to  learn.  The  mission 
among  them  is  particularly  promising. 
Mrs.  Ham  of  Brooklyn  is  one  of  its 
warm  friends,  and  united  with  Mrs.  James 
to  send  the  mission  a  library,  while  Miss 
Wheeler,  of  the  Ladies'  Board  of  Mis- 
sions, assured  Mrs.  Gould's  support. 

We  now  glance  at  Hoonyah. 

The  school  at  Hoonyah  was  established 
November  7,  1881,  by  Dr.  Jackson,  who 
also  erected  the  mission-house.  Mr.  Walter 
B.  Styles  of  New  York  was  commissioned 
as  teacher,  and  is  aided  by  his  wife,  a 
younger  daughter  of  Mr.  Alonzo  B.  Aus- 
tin of  Sitka.  This  lady  had  been  engaged 
in  the  school-work  at  Sitka.  The  name 
given  to  the  station  was  "  Boyd,"  and  the 
station  itself  is  about  halfway  between 
Sitka  and  Haines.  At  the  opening  of 
this  school  some  seventy  pupils  came,  and 
the  attendance  has  been  well  maintained. 
The  Hoonyah  Indians  showed  remarkable 
quickness    of    intellect.       Mr.    Styles    re- 


STANDARDS  SET  UP.  2$/ 

ports  that  during  the  first  five  weeks  the 
pupils,  besides  the  progress  they  made 
in  learning  to  read — all  beginning  at  the 
alphabet — committed  the  Lord's  Prayer,  two 
hymns,  two  commandments,  the  names  and 
uses  of  several  tools,  one  hundred  and  fifty 
names  of  objects,  how  to  count  one  hun- 
dred, and  so  on.  English  in  speaking, 
reading  and  writing  is  taught  in  all  these 
Indian  schools.  The  population  of  Alaska 
will  come  from  the  United  States ;  these 
Indians  are  to  be  made  into  American 
citizens,  and  they  are  taught  the  tongue 
of  their  new  mother-country.  At  Hoon- 
yah,  as  in  the  other  Alaskan  schools,  the 
teaching  is  largely  oral  and  in  object 
lessons. 

Mr.  Stiles,  in  his  first  report  of  his 
school,  mentions  the  need  of  books,  maps, 
charts,  slates,  seeds  of  flowers  and  garden- 
vegetables,  needles,  thread  and  cloth,  also 
a  sewinof-machine.  Mrs.  Stiles  has  a  sew- 
ing  class — a  much-needed  work  at  Hoonyah 
— and  Mr.  Stiles  desires  to  instruct  the 
men  and  lads  in  gardening.  There  is  a 
trading-store   at    Boyd.      On    the     ist    of 

17 


258  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

March,  1882,  a  snowdrift  extended  all  the 
way  over  the  roof  of  this  store,  and  the 
snow  around  the  mission-house  was  fif- 
teen feet  deep. 

This  station  among  the  Hoonyahs — 
Boyd — suffers  especially  from  the  nomadic 
character  of  the  tribe.  So  long  as  the 
Indians  have  no  fixed  means  of  support 
they  must  move  from  winter-quarters  to 
spring,  summer  and  autumn  fishing-,  berry- 
ing- and  hunting-grounds.  In  the  eight 
months  of  roving  life  they  forget  all  that 
was  learned  in  the  four  months  of  school- 
ing. This  nomadic  existence  prevents 
the  establishment  of  comfortable  and  de- 
cent domestic  life,  and  lays  them  especial- 
ly open  to  temptations  of  drink,  Sabbath- 
breakinor  and  licentiousness. 

Mr.  Duncan,  of  the  English  mission  at 
Medahkadah,  found  a  solution  of  this 
difficulty  by  building  a  village  and  there 
opening  industries  for  the  Indians — trade, 
lumbering,  agriculture.  No  doubt,  if  the 
United  States  Indian  Department  could 
give  some  aid  in  setting  up  a  model  indus- 
trial town  at  one  of  our  stations,  giving,  as 


STANDARDS  SET  UP.  259 

was  done  in  British  Columbia,  part  of  the 
price  of  the  houses,  a  saw-mill  and  a  trad- 
ing vessel,  leaving  the  Indians  to  own 
shares  in  all,  while  the  missionaries  were 
reinforced  by  Christian  teachers  of  mechan- 
ical arts,  and  the  Indians  were  taught 
building,  agriculture,  weaving,  shoemaking, 
and  had  a  manufactory  for  their  beautiful 
grass  and  bark  baskets  and  mat-making, 
and  for  their  carving,  which  products  would 
meet  ready  sale  in  our  large  cities,  and 
could  be  forwarded  via  San  Francisco  at 
moderate  expense, — we  should  have  in  a 
few  years,  as  at  Metlahkatlah,  not  only  an 
orderly  Christian  village,  not  only  a  self- 
supporting  village,  but  a  thriving  and  rich 
village,  a  centre  of  industry  and  an  example 
to  the  whole  Alaskan  region.  In  fact. 
Christian  mechanics  and  the  teaching  of 
the  Indians  asfriculture  and  some  kind  of 
handiwork  will  be  the  grand  means  of 
transforming  them  from  nomads  to  settled, 
increasing  and  improving  tribes. 

Another  important  piece  of  mission-work 
has  been  undertaken  at  Upper  Takoo, 
among  the  mines  and  fisheries.     Between 


26o  AMONG    TUK  ALASKANS. 

Fort  VVrangell  and  Haines  is  a  small  river 
called  the  Takoo,  at  whose  upper  fork  is 
located  an  Indian  village  inhabited  mostly 
in  summer  or  early  spring,  when  the  fish 
are  ascending  all  the  streams  in  great 
numbers.  Mrs.  Dr.  Corlies,  writing  of 
this  river,  says  :  "  I  feel  confident  that  the 
scenery  on  the  upper  Takoo  will  equal  in 
grandeur  any  in  the  world.  It  has  snow- 
capped mountains,  glistening  glaciers  and 
foamingf   cataracts." 

In  1 88 1,  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Corlies  deter- 
mined to  visit  this  fishing-village.  The 
voyage  was  by  canoe,  and  difficult  because 
of  the  exceedingly  swift  current,  which 
whirled  the  canoe  about  and  tossed  it  from 
bank  to  bank.  Timid  women  do  not  make 
good  missionaries  in  Alaska.  Sometimes 
all  the  passengers  were  landed  on  a  sand- 
bank to  walk  while  the  canoe  was  carried. 
When  the  missionaries  arrived  at  Takoo, 
the  chiefs  received  them  coldly.  They 
said  clearly  that  they  kept  slaves  and  loved 
hoochinoo,  and  they  understood  that  gospel- 
teachers  came  to  do  away  with  these  things. 
Dr.  and  Mrs.  Corlies  opened  a  school,  and 


STANDARDS  SET   UP.  26 1 

the  young  people  asserted  their  right  to 
attend.  In  a  few  weeks  the  pupils  could 
read  words  of  three  and  four  letters  and 
sing  a  number  of  hymns. 

The  weather  at  Takoo  was  at  this  time 
very  hot,  so  the  missionaries  had  morning 
school,  and  then  evening  school  from  six 
to  ten,  when  twilight  began.  The  woods 
were  full  of  all  kinds  of  ripe  berries  for 
food,  and  the  fish  were  good  and  plenty. 
The  young  people  proved  apt  and  docile, 
and  all  came  to  Sabbath  services,  which 
were  also  joined  by  Indians,  who  came 
in  canoes  from  other  parts  of  the  river. 
On  Sabbath  evening  Dr.  Corlies  read  the 
Bible  to  the  gathered  Indians,  explaining 
its  stories  and  precepts.  The  poor  heathen 
were  greedy  for  this  reading ;  they  sat  in 
crowded  circles  long  after  dark  while  Dr. 
Corlies  stood  among  them  to  read,  and 
some  Indian  at  his  side  would  hold  a 
candle  close  over  the  page. 

As  each  week  went  by  the  effect  of  the 
teaching  became  more  evident:  there  was 
less  and  less  hoochinoo,  better  order,  more 
knowledge,  more  eagerness  to  be  taught 


262  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

And  so   in   the  forest-village  the  mission- 
aries were  not  without  their  reward. 

In  June,  1882,  Mr.  Codies  decided  to 
remove  to  Juneau  and  there  establish  a 
permanent  station.  The  place  where  this 
devoted,  self-sustaining  family  of  three  have 
chosen  to  abide  is  twelve  miles  south  of 
Juneau,  where  they  live  among  the  Takoo 
tribe,  far  from  the  face  of  any  white  per- 
son. This  is  heroism  and  self-sacrifice  be- 
yond what  most  of  us  reach,  and  we  trust 
that,  as  the  Church  is  not  called  upon 
through  its  Board  of  Home  Missions  to 
contribute  to  the  support  of  these  mis- 
sionaries, liberal  donations  of  mission-work 
material — as  text-cards,  pictures,  easy  books, 
Christmas-tree  gifts,  clothing  for  the  chil- 
dren they  gather  in,  and  books  and  com- 
forts for  the  missionaries  themselves  in 
their  isolation  and  in  the  long  dark  winter 
days — will  be  sent  by  individuals. 


CHAPTER    XI. 

HOME-SCHOOLS  IN  ALASKA. 

NO  unalterable  laws  can  be  laid  down 
for  die  conduct  of  our  mission-fields. 
Each  country  opened  to  the  entrance  of  the 
gospel  has  its  especial  difficulties  and  needs 
and  calls  for  its  own  peculiar  methods  of 
work.  The  missionaries,  as  on  the  ground, 
and  therefore  better  acquainted  with  the 
particular  wants  and  opportunities,  should, 
for  the  most  part,  be  the  judges  of  the  ap- 
pliances demanded. 

One  prominent  feature  of  the  mission- 
work  in  Alaska  is  the  home-school.  This 
will  be  an  increasingly  important  phase, 
and  a  large  outlay  will  be  demanded  to 
place  and  keep  these  homes  on  a  proper 
footing.  We  propose,  therefore,  to  devote 
an  entire  chapter  to  the  industrial  home  in 
Alaska.     The  homes  required  and   estab- 

263 


264  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

Hshed    in  Alaska   are   for    both    boys    and 
girls. 

The  longest  established  and  most  suc- 
cessful work  among  any  Alaskan  Indian 
tribe  is  that  maintained  by  Mr.  Duncan, 
of  the  Church  of  England,  begun  at  Fort 
Simpson  in  1856,  and  removed  to  the  mis- 
sion-village of  Metlahkatlah  in  1863.  Early 
in  his  missionary  life  Mr.  Duncan  discov- 
ered that  the  Christian  Indians,  with  their 
children,  must  be  in  a  measure  segregated 
from  the  pagans,  and  especially  that  the 
children  and  youth  must  be  rescued  from 
the  contaminatinor  influences  of  heathenism 
before  any  effective  work  could  be  accom- 
plished. Mr,  Duncan  writes:  "What  is  to 
become  of  the  children  and  youth  under 
instruction  ...  if  they  are  permitted  to 
slip  away  from  us  into  the  gulf  of  vice 
and  misery  that  everywhere  surrounds 
them  ?  Then  the  fate  of  these  tribes  is 
sealed,  and  the  labor  and  money  already 
spent  for  their  welfare  might  as  well  have 
been  thrown  away.  The  more  thoughtful 
part  of  the  Indians  already  see  this,  and 
are  asking — yes,  craving — a  remedy.     The 


HOME-SCHOOLS  IM  ALASKA.  265 

head-chief  is  constantly  urging  this  ques- 
tion upon  me,  and  begs  that  steps  may 
be  taken  which  shall  give  the  Indians  that 
are  inclined,  and  especially  the  children 
now  being  taught,  a  chance  and  a  help 
to  become  what  good  people  desire  them 
to  be.  In  the  present  state  of  affairs  this 
is  the  only  method  in  which  real  and  per- 
manent eood  can  be  effected." 

In  pursuance  of  this  plan  for  the  rescue 
of  the  converts  and  youth,  Mr.  Duncan 
removed  the  Christian  Indians  to  some 
distance  from  their  heathen  friends,  and 
aided  them  to  build  a  village  in  a  spot 
fitted  for  gardening,  fishing,  commerce 
and  hunting.  Here  the  Sabbath  was  to 
be  strictly  observed  ;  no  strong  drink  was 
admitted ;  simple  and  needful  laws  were  to 
be  promulgated  and  enforced.  The  result 
was  a  beautiful,  orderly,  self-supporting — 
even  rich — village,  a  large  ingathering  of 
souls  into  the  church,  and  one  of  the  most 
wonderful  examples  given  in  modern  times 
of  the  regenerating  power  of  the  gospel 
of  Christ.  And  even  in  this  Christian 
village  Mr.  Duncan  found  the  home-school 


266  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

needful  to  train  up  a  generation  of  youth 
entirely  free  from  the  degraded  and  supersti- 
tious fashions  and  feelings  of  their  ancestors. 

In  fact,  in  every  new  field  among  these 
people  the  demand  for  an  industrial  home- 
school  has  confronted  our  missionaries, 
and  that  for  the  following  reasons : 

First. — The  houses  of  the  Indians  are 
not  fitted  for  any  decency  of  home-life, 
nor  for  maintaining  health.  The  houses 
are  often  without  any  partitions,  and  are 
inhabited  by  many  Indians  together,  of  all 
ages  and  both  sexes.  There  is  no  possi- 
bility of  securing  modesty  of  demeanor, 
purity  of  thought  or  cleanliness  of  living 
in  these  circumstances.  Polygamy  of  the 
most  shameless  type  exists,  and  child-mar- 
riages are  common,  There  is  no  need  to 
expatiate  on  the  moral  degradation  result- 
ing from  twenty,  thirty  or  more  persons 
living  in  one  room  :  the  results  would  be 
evident  even  to  an  idiot. 

But  these  houses  are  dangerous  to  health. 
They  are  not  clean,  they  are  not  drained ; 
the  fires  are  often  in  the  centre  and  the 
the  place  is  full  of  smoke,  occasioning  very 


HOME-SCHOOLS  IN  ALASKA.  267 

general  diseases  of  the  eyes.  The  windows 
are  frequendy  of  some  kind  of  parchment, 
so  that  ventilation  is  impossible;  the  crowd- 
ing and  the  bad  air  encourage  strumous 
diseases,  and  by  these  especially  the  Indian 
tribes  are  decreasing.  Unless  something 
is  done  to  stop  the  process  of  decay 
resulting  from  vitiated  blood,  these  Indian 
races  will  disappear. 

If  missionaries  spend  their  time  and  the 
funds  of  the  Church  laboring  among  gene- 
rations remitted  to  these  disastrous  home 
influences,  the  labor  will  be  to  a  great 
degree  thrown  away.  The  Indians  will  be 
sickly,  inert  and  short-lived,  and  it  will  be 
almost  impossible  to  put  in  practice  the 
truths  taught,  and  even  accepted.  Imagine 
the  endeavor  of  a  youth  to  obey  the  ten 
commandments  in  an  Indian  house  full  of 
heathen.  Idolatry,  cruelty,  revenge,  mur- 
der. Sabbath-breaking,  theft,  profanity,  un- 
cleanness  and  lying  form  the  daily  life  of 
the  whole  establishment.  To  require  the 
child  to  breathe  this  atmosphere  while  its 
own  blood  is  full  of  the  inherited  tendencies 
of  heathenism,    and   yet   live    in    harmony 


268  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

with  the  law  of  God,  is  to  demand  the 
impossible. 

Second. — Homes  for  girls  are  imperatively- 
needed  to  rescue  them  from  the  cruel  im- 
prisonment of  months  or  years  to  which  cus- 
tom makes  them  subject.  This  horrible  or- 
deal gives  them  degraded  ideas  of  their  own 
status,  destroys  hopefulness,  health  and 
happiness,  and  often  causes  their  premature 
death.  We  can  only  wonder  that  any 
survive  it.  Dall  says  that  this  imprison- 
ment has  a  most  ruinous  physical  effect; 
that  the  o-irls  become  weak  and  the  women 
have  a  feeble,  tottering  gait  very  much  in 
contrast  with  the  vigorous,  rapid  step  of 
the  men. 

Third. — Homes  for  boys  are  especially 
needed  to  rescue  them  from  the  influence 
of  the  shamans  and  to  save  them  from 
shaman-training.  Boys  are  early  appren- 
ticed to  the  trade  of  witch-doctors — a  life 
full  of  cruelty  and  extortion,  and  entered 
through  the  most  horrible  initiation.  The 
neophyte  is  required  to  undergo  cuttings 
and  tortures;  to  go  naked,  or  nearly  naked  ; 
with  his  teeth  to  tear  livinq-  dogs ;  to  eat 


HOME-SCHOOLS  IN  ALASKA.  269 

dog  flesh  and  human  flesh  ;  to  bite  the 
flesh  out  of  his  friends  and  relatives  ;  and 
to  hold  in  his  mouth  portions  of  corpses. 

Fourth. — Both  boys  and  girls  are  trained 
as  above  to  make  them  wise  in  witchcraft. 
Where  not  so  tutored  themselves,  they  see 
the  pupils  of  the  shamans  going  through 
their  orgies,  and  are  also  open  to  their 
cruel  and  disfiguring  attacks. 

Fifth. — The  young  being  more  suscepti- 
ble to  religious  trainino-,  the  missionaries 
secure  many  more  youth  than  grown  peo- 
ple for  adherents.  The  older  people  are 
occupied  in  their  work — hunting,  fishing, 
trading- — and  have  less  time,  as  well  as  less 
inclination,  to  attend  school ;  while  they  are 
also,  to  a  large  degree,  discouraged  from 
attendance  by  finding  it  difficult  to  learn 
the  lessons  given.  The  men  and  women 
are  by  habit  more  rooted  than  the  young 
in  their  old  superstitions.  Thus  it  falls  out 
that  in  families  where  the  older  people  are 
heathen  of  the  most  stubborn  type  the 
youth  are  pupils,  and  often  very  bright  and 
docile  pupils,  of  the  mission.  Their  heathen 
friends,    either    actively    or   passively,    are 


270  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

constantly  antagonizing  the  instructions  of 
the  missionaries  and  filHng  the  child's  mind 
with  the  superstitions  and  vileness  of 
paganism.  The  only  way  to  clinch  the 
religious  teaching  given  in  the  school  and 
to  make  civilization  possible  is  to  separate 
the  youth  from  his  demoralized  family,  else 
what  is  built  up  in  school  is  torn  down  at 
home.  Even  in  the  public  and  private 
schools  of  our  most  civilized  communities 
the  ratio  of  the  progress  and  the  propriety 
of  the  pupils  is  in  the  ratio  of  the  cultivation 
and  the  good  discipline  of  their  homes. 
How  often  a  teacher  says,  "  I  could  make 
something  of  that  child  if  I  had  any  home- 
training  to  fall  back  on  "! 

Sixth. — Another  very  weighty  reason  for 
the  establishment  of  the  home-school  is  to 
be  found  in  the  vice  and  deo-radation  of  the 
Indian  mothers.  Long  centuries  of  cruelty 
and  demoralization  have  eliminated  the  idea 
of  virtue  from  the  Indian  mind.  The  Alas- 
kan women  are  outcast  and  brutalized.  They 
have  no  notion  of  purity  or  of  decency.  It 
would  be  simply  revolting  to  exhibit  the  tes- 
timony of  Dall,  of  Surgeon  White,  of  Mr. 


HOME-SCHOOLS  IN  ALASKA.  2/1 

Crosby  and  of  others  conversant  with  facts. 
It  is  an  old  proverb,  "As  is  the  mother,  so 
the  daughter."  With  or  without  reason, 
the  daughter  of  a  vicious  mother  is  looked  on 
with  suspicion.  Our  courts  consider  that  the 
immoral  character  of  a  mother  affords  good 
and  sufficient  reason  for  removing  her  chil- 
dren from  her  custody.  The  daily  exam- 
ple, the  open  teachings,  the  whole  tone,  of 
the  heathen  mothers  are  destructive  of  vir- 
tue in  the  child.  Therefore,  to  secure  a 
generation  of  virtuous  men  and  women 
who  shall  be  capable  of  training  up  their 
families  in  moral  living,  we  must  set  apart 
the  youth  of  the  present  day  in  schools 
where  decency  and  integrity  can  be  incul- 
cated, exhibited  and  enforced. 

Seventh. — Again,  we  find  the  need  of  our 
home-school  in  the  open  and  shameless 
sale  of  girls  by  their  relatives,  and  in  the 
fact  that  when  young — even  very  young — 
girls  are  enticed  away  by  wicked  men,  no 
reprobation  follows  the  deed.  We  have 
seen  Katy's  mother  trying  to  drag  her  off 
for  sale.  The  parents  just  as  much  expected 
to  sell  their  daughters  for  a  few  blankets  as 


272  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

they  expected  to  sell  their  furs  or  their 
fish. 

These  young  girls  of  Alaska  have  a  right 
to  protection  ;  and,  since  our  government 
moves  slowly  in  according  it,  the  Church 
of  God  is  doubly  bound  to  go  to  their  res- 
cue by  providing  homes  for  their  refuge. 
The  Alaskan  girl  will  be  kidnapped  on  the 
streets  or  sold  by  her  relations,  and  the 
more  mannerly,  bright,  cleanly  and  attract- 
ive she  becomes  through  the  influence  of 
the  school  and  Christian  instruction,  the 
more  she  is  in  danger.  The  one  hope  for 
her  is  a  home  where  she  can  live  safely, 
and  where  the  teachers  shall  be  kind  and 
powerful  guardians. 

Eighth. — The  prevalence  of  witchcraft 
notions  in  Alaska  makes  it  needful  to  pro- 
vide homes  to  shelter  the  victims,  who  are 
often  young  children — even  infants. 

On  the  8th  of  December,  1882,  Shaaks 
heard  at  Fort  Wrangell  that  a  child  was 
being  starved  as  a  witch.  Accompanied 
by  Mr.  Young,  he  went  to  the  house  indi- 
cated, and  found  a  sick  woman  in  bed  and 
a  man  by  the  fire.     They  denied  all  knowl- 


HOME-SCHOOLS  IN  ALASKA.  2/3 

edge  of  the  child ;  but  Shaaks  instituted  a 
search,  and  found  a  very  diminutive  five- 
year-old  child  crowded  under  the  bed  and 
barricaded  by  pails  and  boxes.  The  accused 
baby  was  an  orphan  Creole  and  so  weak  that 
she  could  not  stand,  her  body  bruised,  her 
cheek  blackened  by  a  violent  blow ;  she 
had  been  given  only  sea-water  to  drink, 
and  no  food  for  several  days.  A  pitiful 
object  indeed !  The  poor  thing  said  the 
people  called  her  "  bad  medicine,"  and  she 
did  not  know  what  bad  medicine  was.  Mr. 
Young  carried  her  off,  and  at  the  nearest 
white  man's  house  got  her  a  piece  of  biscuit. 
Shaaks  then  took  her  to  his  house  and  fed 
her  at  judicious  intervals  durine  the  nio-ht. 
The  next  day  she  was  brought  to  the  home, 
and  Miss  Dunbar  washed  and  dressed  her; 
and,  with  her  nice  clothes  and  neatly- 
arranged  hair,  she  was  found  to  be  an 
unusually  bright  and  pretty  child.  The 
people  who  had  abused  her  admitted  their 
treatment,  but  maintained  that  she  was  a 
witch.  At  Mrs.  McFarland's  home  this 
"witch"  is  one  of  the  most  lovine,  ardess 
and  obedient  children,  and  learns  rapidly. 

18 


274  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

Again,  Miss  Dunbar  was  walking  on  the 
beach  with  some  of  the  home-girls,  when  a 
canoe  of  fugitives  landed  and,  hurrying  to 
her,  demanded  help.  It  was  a  whole  family 
condemned  to  die  by  torture  for  witchcraft. 
The  shamans  accuse  the  aged,  the  poor  or 
the  children.  This  family  was  composed 
of  two  old  people,  their  daughter,  her  child 
and  some  others.  The  old  woman  was  first 
murdered  as  a  witch,  but  by  night  the  aged 
man  got  the  others  into  a  canoe  and  set 
out  for  Fort  Wrangell,  where  he  had  heard 
there  was  a  home  and  some  missionaries 
who  protected  people.  The  grandfather 
wanted  the  little  girl  received  into  the  home, 
while  he  found  refuofe  in  the  villacje  with 
his  family,  The  girl  was  at  once  accepted 
as  a  pupil. 

Another  pitiful  case  brought  before  Mrs. 
McFarland  was  of  Kooseetke,  a  child  of  a 
high-caste  Stickeen  family — a  family  greatly 
given  to  whisky.  In  defiance  of  the  customs 
officer,  they  went  continually  over  those 
fatal  steps — molasses,  hoochinoo,  drunken- 
ness, fights,  murders,  revenge.  Pushed 
about  by  her  drunken  parents,  Kooseetke 


HOME-SCHOOLS   IN  ALASKA.  2/5 

got  two  bad  falls,  hopelessly  injuring  her 
spine  and  her  chest.  In  1879,  during  a 
hoochinoo  uproar  at  the  fishing-station, 
Kooseetke's  father  shot  his  wife  before  his 
child's  eyes  and  towed  her  ghastly  corpse 
down  to  Wranofell  behind  the  canoe  in 
which  sat  his  eiorht-vear-old  dauorhter. 
When  the  horrible  spectacle  was  seen  from 
the  shore,  Kooseetke's  married  half-sister 
rushed  to  the  water,  and,  snatching  up  the 
frantic  little  one,  carried  her  to  Mrs.Mc Far- 
land.  Mrs.  McFarland  received  her,  real- 
izing that  it  must  be  only  to  let  her  die  in 
peace.  All  that  skill  could  do  to  relieve 
her  physical  infirmities  was  done  ;  all  that 
love  could  do  to  blot  out  terrible  memories 
from  that  baby-mind  and  fill  it  with  happy 
child-thoughts  was  done.  Saddest  and 
most  patient  of  all  the  home-children, 
waking  at  night  with  wild  shrieks,  the 
echoes  of  her  past  alarms,  her  limbs  be- 
coming slowly  paralyzed,  little  Kooseetke 
drifted  down  to  death.  Standing  by  a 
window  of  the  home  during  that  unhappy 
February  fight  already  described,  this  child 
of  misfortune  saw  her  father  killed  by  one 


276  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

of  her  mother's  relations,  the  avenger  of 
blood.  It  was  the  last  blow:  within  a  week 
she  died  in  nervous  spasms.  But  she  died 
happy,  speaking  of  the  Jesus  whom  she 
had  learned  to  love,  and  of  the  heaven 
where  God  receives  litde  children. 

Ninth. — We  also  find  our  industrial 
homes  needed  to  train  the  children  and  the 
youth  in  habits  of  order,  industry,  neatness 
and  home-making  that  it  is  impossible  for 
them  to  acquire  at  their  own  homes,  even 
when  their  parents  are  among  the  converts 
to  Christianity. 

When  an  Indian  woman  renounces  vice 
and  heathenism  and  becomes  a  sincere 
follower  of  Christ,  a  great  change  indeed 
enters  her  home-life.  She  is  more  kind, 
more  cleanly,  more  industrious ;  she  has 
forsaken  her  vices  and  strives  to  improve. 
But  old  people  advance  slowly  in  manner 
of  daily  living,  and  the  improvement  is 
further  hindered  by  poverty.  She  has  no 
means  of  setting  a  decent  family  meal ;  her 
religion  does  not  inspire  her  with  a  knowl- 
edge of  sewing,  breadmaking,  house-clean- 
ing  and    laundry-work.     She  learns  these 


HOME-SCHOOLS  IN  ALASKA.  2"] J 

things  more  slowly  than  a  child  would.  If 
her  children  are  to  learn  these  "  arts  "  and 
become  habituated  to  the  decencies  of  life, 
it  must  be  in  homes  supervised  by  the 
missionaries  and  provided  with  means  of 
instruction.  Boys  and  girls  in  these  homes 
learn  cooking,  washing,  scrubbing — the 
general  methods  of  housework.  They  are 
taught  regularity  and  neatness.  The  girls 
learn  to  sew,  to  cut  and  to  make  clothes ; 
the  boys  garden,  prepare  fuel,  and  salt, 
smoke  and  dry  food.  As  the  homes  im- 
prove in  means  the  pupils  will  also  learn 
shoemakine,  tailorino-  and  other  work. 
They  are  and  will  be,  in  every  sense  of 
the  words,  industrial  homes. 

Tenth. — We  must  have  these  homes  for 
both  boys  and  girls  to  train  up  a  generation 
suited  to  each  other  in  habits  of  thought  and 
manner  of  life.  If  only  one-half  of  the  In- 
dian family  is  civilized,  the  civilization  of  the 
future  home  is  impossible.  The  lad  cult- 
ured by  the  school-training  will  not  be 
happy  with  a  wife  taken  from  the  Indian 
ranche  and  versed  only  in  Indian  ways, 
nor   will    the    girl    instructed    for    several 


278  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

years  in  decent  living  want  *'  a  blanket 
Indian "  for  a  husband.  Already  some 
who  have  been  trained  in  these  homes 
are  setting  up  Christian  families,  which 
will  be  examples  and  springs  of  good  to 
their  tribes. 

Eleventh. — Another  need  met  by  these 
homes  is  in  the  training  of  Indians  for 
teachers  and  assistant  missionaries  to  their 
own  people.  Even  as  interpreters,  to  be 
useful,  they  must  be  Christianized  and  en- 
lightened. Some  have  already  gone  from 
the  Fort  Wrangell  school  to  this  work — 
as  Mrs.  Dickinson  and  Tillie  and  Louie 
Paull,  mentioned  in  our  last  chapter. 

Twelfth. — These  schools  do  not  break 
family  ties  nor  violate  family  feeling.  They 
are  the  refuge  of  orphans,  and  are  also  the 
homes  of  those  whose  parents  eagerly  bring 
them  to  claim  advantages  which  they  them- 
selves never  had.  Even  the  heathen  In- 
dians have  shown  a  remarkable  desire  for 
the  instruction  and  the  rescue  of  their  chil- 
dren. Again  and  again  parents  have  come 
imploring  that  room  may  be  made  in  the 
homes  for  their  children,  that  they  either 


HOME-SCHOOLS  IN  ALASKA.  279 

may  become  "wise  and  strong"  or  may  be 
saved  from  the  superstitions  and  the  witch- 
craft accusations  of  their  heathen  people. 

Thirteenth. — Finally,  in  these  schools  we 
must  create  a  public  opinion.  Even  among 
Alaskans  progress  cannot  stem  the  tide  of 
public  opinion.  So  long  as  drunkenness, 
revenge,  murder — vice  of  all  kinds — shall 
be  considered  neither  wrong  nor  disgrace- 
ful, but  even  praiseworthy,  so  long  these 
vices  will  abound.  A  generation  must  be 
educated  which  will  look  at  morals  in  a 
right  light — a  generation  which  shall  be 
virtuous,  temperate,  cleanly,  industrious  ;  a 
generation,  in  short,  permeated  with  the 
alphabet  and  the  ten  commandments.  And 
such  a  generation,  as  in  the  above  points 
has  been  conclusively  shown,  can  be  se- 
cured only  in  the  training  of  our  industrial 
home-schools.  Wrangell,  Sitka  and  Haines 
have  now  such  homes  assured.  The  Church 
must  be  faithful,  courageous,  hearty  in  giving, 
that  at  each  of  our  stations  a  home  may  be 
set  up  as  a  part  of  the  indispensable  work 
of  the  mission.  We  must  plant  the  teach- 
er's house,  the  church,  the  school-building 


28o  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

and  the  industrial  home  at  every  station 
as  our  declaration  that  we  mean  to  carry 
this  work  thoroughly  and  wisely  to  its  com- 
pletion. 

The  Alaskan  tribes  are  not  large :  they 
have  been  wasting  away  under  whisky  and 
vice.  Given  the  gospel,  we  trust  they  may 
increase,  and  no  longer  diminish.  As  a 
general  thing,  each  tribe  needs  its  mission, 
and  each  mission  needs  its  home  capable 
of  accommodating  from  twenty-five  to  fifty 
pupils,  or  in  some  tribes  as  many  as  a 
hundred.  Trades  and  agriculture  and 
housework  and  sewing  must  be  taught, 
and,  thouorh  our  missionaries  are  doubt- 
less  very  gifted  people,  I  see  no  reason 
to  suppose  that  they  are  of  such  a  sur- 
prising quality  that  they  can  teach  in  all 
these  branches  without  materials  or  im- 
plements. Theoretical  carpentry  will  fall 
wearily  on  Indian  ears ;  they  must  have 
saws  and  hammers  and  planes  and  nails 
and  lumber.  Let  us  be  done  with  "  bricks 
without  straw"  in  our  missions. 

And  here — as  we  do  not  intend  to  ofet 
out  books  as  yearly  bulletins  of  our  mis- 


HOME-SCHOOLS  IN  ALASKA.  28 1 

sions — let  it  be  added  that  the  time  is 
coming  when  another  school,  of  another 
class,  must  be  provided,  and  liberally  pro- 
vided, in  the  most  eligible  locality  to  be 
found  in  Alaska — a  school  for  white  chil- 
dren. Already  in  our  mission  families 
there  are  children  whom  it  will  be  equally 
inadvisable  to  keep  among  the  heathen  at 
the  stations  or  send  thousands  of  miles 
from  their  parents  whilst  between  the  ages 
of  eight  and  sixteen.  There  are  also  trad- 
ers' families,  government  officials  and  other 
white  people  of  good  standing  and  refine- 
ment, who  are  finding  homes  for  a  longer 
or  shorter  time  in  Alaska.  To  accommo- 
date the  children  of  such  households,  the 
Church,  if  she  lives  up  to  the  measure  of 
her  duty  and  her  opportunity,  will  within 
a  few  years  provide  a  well-appointed  school, 
well  furnished,  well  supplied  with  apparatus, 
well  taught. 

The  Presbyterian  Church,  through  the 
action  of  her  missionary  agent,  whose 
acts  the  Church  has  not  repudiated,  finds 
herself  with  Alaska  on  her  hands.  It  is 
too  late   now  to  question  whether  we  had 


282 


AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 


better  cultivate  the  Alaskan  field.  The 
question  before  us  is,  "  How  well  will  we 
do  it?"  knowinor  that  in  whatever  we  do 
we  give  future  ages  a  specimen  of  Pres- 
byterian work. 


KUTCHIN    LODGE   ON    TllK    Uri'KK    YUKON    RIVKR,  ALASKA. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

BOA  TS  AND   SAW-MILLS. 

IN  behalf  of  our  Alaskan  mission-field 
certain  requests,  to  some  people  very- 
astonishing",  have  been  made.  The  workers 
at  the  station,  and  Dr.  Jackson  after  his 
yearly  tours,  have  stated  wants  that  have 
excited  some  wonderment.  As  we  have 
said  in  our  chapter  on  "  homes,"  our 
missionaries  sent  to  Alaska  are  people  of 
piety  and  common  sense  and  have  the  full 
confidence  of  the  Church.  Therefore,  when 
these  missionaries  assert  that  certain  things 
are  needed  in  the  prosecution  of  their  duties, 
we  might  as  well  take  this  as  a  plain  state- 
ment of  important  facts  and  meet  it  in  a 
spirit  of  liberality.  Some  of  these  extra- 
ordinary, as  not  every-day,  requests  are 
for— 

283 


284  among  the  alaskans. 

Bells, 

Flags, 
Canoes, 
Saw-mills, 
Steam-launches. 

We  shall  presently  add  a  few  others, 
which,  as  being  of  a  personal  nature,  our 
missionaries  have  been  too  modest  to 
mention. 

We  will  begin  by  saying  that  our  Alaskan 
missions  are  not  the  only  missions  that  have 
made  these  demands.  Our  own  churches 
have  sent  one  or  two  boats  to  Africa,  and 
did  well  in  sending  them.  A  Scotch  mis- 
sionary in  New  Guinea  wanted  a  steam- 
boat. The  "  directors  "  did  not  know  how 
they  could  consistendy  give  a  steamboat : 
they  hoped  the  missionary  could  get  on 
without  such  an  unusual  appliance  for 
gospel-preaching.  However,  he  found  a 
wealthy  lady  to  listen  to  his  plea,  and  she 
brought  light  to  the  eyes  of  the  directors 
by  a  cheque  large  enough  to  buy  and  equip 
a  neat  little  steamer.  Many  letters  from 
the  New-Guinea  mission   would  not    have 


BOATS  AND   SAW-MILLS.  287 

accomplished  so  much  as  did  that  sHp  of 
paper  with  a  good  name  on  it,  and  now 
the  steamboat  Ellengowan  is  opening  up 
New   Guinea  to   the  gospel. 

When  Mr.  Duncan  began  his  work  at 
Metlahkatlah  he  found  that  he  needed  a 
schooner,  and  he  soon  had  the  boat ;  then 
he  found  that  he  must  secure  a  saw-mill, 
and  he  presently  had  the  mill ;  and  both 
vessel  and  mill  have  helped  in  the  wonder- 
ful results  obtained  at  Metlahkatlah. 

To  begin  with  the  saw-mill.  In  Alaska 
there  is  lumber  enough  to  house  the  people 
comfortably,  if  it  can  be  cut  properly  for 
use.  So  long  as  only  axes  are  to  be  had 
for  felling  and  shaping  timber,  the  diffi- 
culty of  putting  up  new  houses  or  partition- 
ing or  improving  old  ones  will  be  great. 
We  have  already  shown  that  the  present 
Alaskan  house  is  not  an  abode  conducive 
to  health  or  to  decency.  The  missionaries 
are  encouraging  the  Indians  to  build  houses 
with  rooms,  chimneys  and  windows.  Now, 
these  are  humble  and  needful  requirements 
in  a  house,  and  civilization  cannot  be  secured 
without  them.     The  Indians  are  anxious  for 


288  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

better — or,  as  they  say,  "  United-States  " — 
houses.  They  are  wilhng  to  cut  down  the 
trees,  to  convey  them  to  the  mill  and  to  pay 
for  the  sawing-  of  their  lumber.  The  mis- 
sion-premises— the  dwelling-house,  church, 
schoolhouse  and  industrial  home — can  be 
put  up  much  more  cheaply,  quickly  and 
commodiously  if  a  saw-mill  is  within  a 
reasonable  distance.  The  mills  will  soon 
become  valuable  property,  because  emi- 
grants will  go  in  increasing  numbers  to 
Alaska,  and  will  need  lumber  for  their 
houses. 

As  has  already  been  stated,  the  Alaskan 
tribes  are  small — generally  from  three  hun- 
dred to  nine  hundred.  These  families  live 
in  from  two  to  five  little  villages  lying  from 
five  to  thirty  miles  apart.  The  missionary 
cannot  be  in  all  these  places ;  his  visiting- 
tours  will  not  be  as  effective  as  could  be 
wished,  because  it  will  be  difficult  to  find  a 
shelter  for  himself  or  a  building  fit  for 
services.  That  the  church  and  the  school 
may  exert  their  full  influence,  and  that  the 
Indians  may  be  encouraged  to  preserve 
order  and  to  keep  the  Sabbath,  it  is  desir- 


BOATS  AND   SAWMILLS.  289 

able  that  many  of  the  famihes  may  be 
persuaded  to  Hve  near  the  station.  To  do 
this  they  must  build  houses  at  the  station; 
and  that  the  houses  may  be  comfortable 
and  the  difficulties  of  the  removal  not  over- 
whelming, saw-mills  should  be  within  a 
certain  number  of  miles. 

The  missionary  to  the  Hydahs  writes: 
"  Do  your  very  best  to  get  a  saw-mill ;  it 
is  absolutely  essential  to  the  highest  suc- 
cess of  the  mission  to  the  Hydahs — almost 
a  sine  qua  non.  With  a  live  missionary,  a 
saw-mill  and  a  Christian  trader  at  the  store, 
we  can  make  the  model-mission  of  Alaska." 
This  saw-mill  at  Hydah  would  prepare  lum- 
ber for  Haines  if  there  were  means  of  trans- 
porting it  to  that  place,  and  that  the  trans- 
portation is  abundantly  easy  we  shall  soon 
show. 

In  regard  to  the  value  of  saw-mills  to 
the  missions  in  Alaska  the  Rev.  Mr.  Brady 
says :  "  The  first  step  in  the  material  work 
in  Alaska  is  a  saw-mill.  However  anxious 
the  Christian  natives  may  be  to  have  sepa- 
rate homes  for  their  families,  it  is  almost  im- 
possible for  them  to  procure  the  necessary 

19 


290  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

lumber  for  the  erection  of  their  houses. 
Several  times  leading  Indians  have  said 
to  the  missionaries,  '  We  would  not  ask 
you  to  give  us  lumber,  but  would  gladly 
pay  for  it  if  there  was  a  mill  here  to  make 
it.'  It  is  a  common  remark  of  the  people 
when  urored  to  better  lives:  'How  can  we 
do  better,  and  how  can  we  keep  our  girls 
pure,  while  several  families  are  compelled 
to  live  and  sleep  in  the  same  room  ?'  If 
these  people  are  to  be  separated  into  fami- 
lies, each  of  one  man  Math  his  wife  and  chil- 
dren, they  must  be  assisted  by  the  mission- 
ary society  or  the  governnient.  A  saw- 
mill will  aid  them  most.  And  they  should 
be  required  to  pay  for  what  they  get." 

Dr.  Jackson,  with  full  knowledge  of  the 
field,  says  :  "  It  becomes,  then,  a  part  of  the 
mission-work  to  create  material  industries 
as  well  as  give  gospel  privileges.  If  any 
church  or  individuals  will  give  two  thou- 
sand dollars  to  purchase  and  erect  a  saw- 
mill in  Alaska,  they  will  provide  some  of 
the  natives  with  employment,  and  at  a  rea- 
sonable rate  furnish  the  materials  with  which 
they  can  erect  homes  for  themselves." 


BOATS  AND   SAW- MILLS.  29 1 

These  saw-mills,  put  up  at  suitable  sites 
where  they  would  be  accessible  to  the 
greatest  number  of  villages,  would  be 
both  useful  and  profitable. 

Next  to  the  saw-mill  in  importance  comes 
the  steam-launch.  And  before  anyone  has 
time  to  grow  a  well-sized  prejudice  in  the 
soil  of  this  suggestion,  let  us  explain  that 
it  is  full  of  the  seed  of  common-sense. 
If  one  or  two  steam-launches  are  provid- 
ed, then  the  lumber  cut  at  our  mills  can  be 
carried  or  pushed  in  rafts,  as  on  the  Ohio 
River,  to  the  localities  where  it  is  needed. 
And  let  us  respectfully  suggest  that  just 
now  Alaska  has  no  roads. 

Again :  all  the  smaller  boats  plying  the 
Alaskan  waters  belong  to  traders.  They, 
of  course,  are  governed  by  the  traders' 
ideas  of  profit ;  they  go  and  come  to  suit 
him,  and  not  to  suit  the  public.  Now,  this 
is  natural  and  not  to  be  complained  of; 
but  on  this  account  our  missionaries  are 
frequently  deprived  of  mails,  of  stores,  of 
freight,  of  things  needful  to  their  very  ex- 
istence, as  in  case  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Willard. 
If  Mr.  Willard  had  had  a  steam-launch  at 


292  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

his  disposal,  he  could  have  readily  made 
the  seventy-five  miles  down  the  open  inlet 
and  procured  the  food,  medicine  and  medi- 
cal aid  which  his  family  and  the  Indians 
needed,  and  many  Indians'  lives  would 
have  been  saved ;  but  on  snow-shoes  he 
could  not  traverse  more  than  a  hundred 
miles  by  land  over  an  unknown  country 
lying-  eight  feet  under  snow. 

The  steam-launch  needs  but  a  very  small 
crew,  and  Indians  are  quick  to  learn  and 
very  careful  in  execution ;  two  Indians, 
with  one  white  man,  would  be  all  the 
hands  needed.  Indeed,  a  monthly  trip 
would  not  take  too  much  time  for  the  mis- 
sionary to  run  his  boat  himself,  giving  op- 
portunity for  visiting  villages  on  the  route, 
preaching  and  gathering  up  pupils  for  the 
schools. 

A  o-rand  advantaofe  of  the  steam-launch 
owned  by  the  mission  would  be  in  helping 
to  destroy  the  whisky-trade.  The  mission- 
boat  could  carry  freight  at  low  rates,  and 
so  monopolize  trade,  to  a  degree,  by  a 
craft  that  carried  no  whisky,  and  no  mo- 
lasses for  hoochinoo    purposes.     Now  the 


BOATS  AND   SAW-MILLS.  293 

boats  carry  up  liquor  and  institute  a  reign 
of  death. 

The  canoe  is  the  next  great  want.  Every 
station  should  have  a  canoe.  Remember, 
there  are  no  roads.  The  m.ission-tours 
must  be  made  in  canoes.  Exercise  must 
be  had  and  errands  done  by  canoe.  Ex- 
peditions to  visit  the  sick  or  to  bury  the 
dead  must  be  by  canoe.  The  hire  of  a 
canoe  is  from  five  to  ten  dollars  for  each 
trip ;  the  canoe  itself  would  cost  from 
fifty  to  one  hundred  dollars.  In  busy  fish- 
ing-seasons the  Indians  will  not  rent  their 
canoes  for  any  price.  The  home-pupils 
need  the  canoe  for  exercise,  for  practice 
and  for  fishing-excursions  to  brine  in  food 
for  their  home.  We  have  seen  how  much 
Mrs.  McFarland  felt  the  need  of  a  canoe — 
so  much  that  she  and  Miss  Dunbar,  from 
their  small  means,  subscribed  ten  dollars 
each  for  the  purchase  of  one.  The  canoe 
is  not  a  luxury,  but  a  necessity. 

The  bell  is  absolutely  needed  at  each  sta- 
tion to  call  the  people  to  school  and  to 
church.  The  people  have  no  way  of  tell- 
ing time  ;  and  if  regularity  and  punctuality 


294  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

are  worth  anything  in  schools  or  in  churches, 
we  must,  in  Alaska,  have  a  bell  to  secure 
them.  At  the  Takoo  mines,  when  the  bell 
sent  by  Mrs.  Langdon  was  being  shipped 
from  one  steamer  to  another,  some  young 
fellows,  long  exiled  from  the  familiar  Sab- 
bath sound,  set  it  up  on  the  wharf  and 
ranof  it — the  first  Protestant  church-bell 
that  ever  rang  in  Alaska.  As  its  notes 
swelled  in  the  air  Indians  and  miners 
flocked  to  the  wharf  demanding  a  church 
service.  At  once  a  choir  was  arranged, 
an  interpreter  called  and  the  gospel 
preached.  Many  white  people  within 
ranofe  of  the  stations  will  attend  church 
if  they  hear  the  long-ago  familiar  sound 
of  a  bell.  The  bell  calls  to  the  emigrant 
with  the  voice  of  the  past. 

The  American  flag  is  also  needed  at  all 
our  stations.  These  Indians  have  a  nat- 
ural genius  for  patriotism,  and  their  love 
for  the  United  States  should  be  fostered. 
If  such  love  had  been  fostered  in  all  our 
aborigines,  many  kindly  eyes  would  be 
looking  forth  where  now  are  empty  sock- 
ets in  skulls  bleaching  on  Western  plains. 


BOATS  AND   SAW-MILLS.  295 

The  flag  is  also  needed  to  tell  when 
Sunday  comes.  As  yet,  the  tribes  find  it 
hard  to  keep  the  days  of  the  week  and 
rightly  to  place  the  holy  day.  The  flag, 
unfurled  at  sunrise,  would  warn  them  to  lay 
aside  labor  for  the  Sabbath  and  prepare  to 
go  to  church  when  the  bell  called  the  hour. 

And  now,  to  be  plain  with  the  good 
sisters  of  the  Church,  no  lady  should  have 
been  sent  out,  as  Mrs.  Willard  was,  to  a 
station  out  of  reach  of  all  help  and  all 
white  people,  without  sending  with  her  a 
Christian  servant- woman.  This  would  have 
been  mere  humane  common  sense.  It  is 
not  impossible  to  find  deeply-pious,  kind- 
ly and  plainly-educated  working-women 
who  will  gladly  go  on  such  a  mission,  not 
only  helping  the  missionary  in  the  house- 
hold, but  taking  a  class  in  the  Sabbath- 
school,  and  going,  as  time  served,  from 
house  to  house  teaching  the  Indian  women 
good  ways  of  working.  There  are  many 
such  women,  whose  daily  presence  would 
be  a  help  and  a  comfort,  who  would  be  the 
mainstay  of  the  mission-home.  If  Mrs. 
Willard   had   had  such  a  one — cheerful   in 


296  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

trial  and  ready  in  emergency — she  need 
not  have  come  near  dying  for  want  of 
warm  food,  nor  need  she,  unable  to  stand, 
have  nursed  her  sick  child  as  she  sat  bol- 
stered up  in  her  chair.  Why  send  out  a 
lady  to  a  life  of  unusual  labor  and  trial, 
and  send  her  deprived  of  the  manual  help 
to  which  she  has  all  her  life  been  accus- 
tomed ?  Because  she  submits  to  suffering 
and  privation  for  Christ's  sake,  is  it  any 
reason  that  ive  should  add  to  her  suffering 
and  privation  by  neglecting  to  supply  her 
needs  ?  We  have  enough  plain  duties  with- 
out weaving  martyr-crowns  for  other  people. 
Akin  to  such  provision  for  the  daily 
needs  of  our  missionaries,  it  will  be  well 
often  to  send  out  to  the  stations  a  married 
pair,  of  missionary  spirit  and  assured  piety, 
who,  beine  able  to  ofive  some  aid  in  the  Sab- 
bath-school  and  the  prayer-meetings,  shall 
particularly  devote  themselves  to  secular 
duties  and  instruction.  A  man  who  could 
cultivate  the  mission-land,  teach  the  In- 
dians agriculture,  know  something  of  car- 
pentry and  be  able  to  work  at  launch  or 
saw-mill,  where  these  belonged  to  the  mis- 


BOATS  AND   SAW-MILLS.  297 

sion,  would  be  invaluable  at  the  station,  and 
would  set  the  missionary  free  for  the  higher 
work  of  gospel-instructing.  We  should  not 
send  the  missionary  to  a  station  with  a  civil 
suggestion  that  he  perform  the  work  done 
by  some  five  men  at  home. 

The  wife  of  this  lay-missionary  might 
be  competent  to  have  an  especial  part  in 
a  daily  or  tri-weekly  sewing  class — one  who 
could  teach  the  Indian  women  baking  and 
laundry-work,  who  would  be  ready  to  aid 
the  missionary's  wife  in  visiting  and  nurs- 
ine  the  sick  and  in  orivinor  the  Indian  women 
lessons  in  these  duties  and  in  the  care  of 
young  children.  Such  lay-missionaries  are 
well  known  in  German  stations.  Such 
helpers  as  these  could  also,  in  a  manner, 
supply  the  place  of  the  missionaries  in 
time  of  sickness  or  when  they  went  now 
and  then,  as  they  should  surely  do,  to  visit 
the  other  stations,  compare  methods  and 
success  of  work  and  get  needed  rest. 

Let  those  who  are  liberal  and  wise- 
hearted  ponder  these  things,  for  all  these 
needs  must  be  supplied  by  individual  and 
especial  benevolence. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

EDUCA  TION  IN  ALASKA. 

THE  tribe  of  Alaskan  Indians  with 
whom  the  Russians  came  most  in  con- 
tact was  the  Aleuts.  Many  of  the  Russian 
employes  of  the  fur  company  intermarried 
with  this  tribe,  and  their  creole  children 
were  trained  with  some  care  in  the  Russian 
schools.  These  Creoles  rose  frequently  to 
hig-h  positions  under  the  fur  company  or 
the  Russian  eoverment :  in  their  numbers 
we  find  officers,  sea-captains,  priests  of  the 
Greek  Church,  traders,  directors  of  the 
company.  Etolin,  who  by  force  of  his  merit 
and  talent  raised  himself  to  the  first  position 
in  the  colony — that  of  governor  and  chief 
director  of  the  fur  company — was  a  Creole. 
When  an  Aleut  full-blood  Indian  entered 
the  schools  and  showed  ability,  no  hindrance 
was  placed  in  the  way  of  his  advancement ; 

298 


EDUCATION  IN  ALASKA.  299 

occasionally  he  became  the  favorite  of  some 
Russian  officer  and  was  helped  rapidly 
forward.  Many  Indians,  in  these  circum- 
stances, exhibited  the  capacity  of  their  race 
for  acquiring  knowledge  and  making  prog- 
ress in  letters.  Several  of  them  had  a 
good  degree  of  attainment  in  the  classics. 
One  of  the  best  physicians  during  the  Rus- 
sian occupation  was  an  Aleutian  ;  another 
Aleut  was  the  best  navigator  ever  in  the 
company's  service ;  several  were  distin- 
guished as  accountants  and  merchants. 

The  palmy  days  of  schools  in  Alaska 
were  from  1859  to  1867,  when  five  insti- 
tutions of  learning  were  open  in  Sitka. 
After  the  purchase,  all  these,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  two  small  ones  taught  by  Rus- 
sian priests  and  having  an  average  attend- 
ance of  ten  each,  were  abandoned.  Schools 
were  again  opened  in  Alaska,  as  we  have 
seen,  at  Wrangell,  Sitka  and  other  stations, 
as  the  Presbyterian  Church  sent  out  mis- 
sionaries, and  at  all  the  stations  the  most 
vigorous  work  has  been  done  in  the  school, 
young  and  old  being  encouraged  to  attend. 
The  officers  of  the  United  States  men-of- 


300  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

war  who  have  been  stationed  in  Alaskan 
waters  have  shown  a  most  noble  and  en- 
lightened spirit  in  regard  to  these  schools ; 
they  have  aided  the  teachers  in  securing 
the  attendance  of  the  Indians,  have  given 
liberally  of  their  private  means,  and  have 
done  their  utmost  to  make  the  institutions 
popular. 

When  the  Rev.  Drs.  Kendall  and  Jackson 
made  their  visit  to  Alaska,  they  were  offici- 
ally requested  by  the  government  at  Wash- 
ington to  collect  information  concerninor  the 
status  of  the  Indian  population,  with  a  view  to 
furnishinof  the  natives  education  under  au- 
thority  of  Congress,  as  has  been  done  among 
other  Indian  tribes  in  various  parts  of  our 
country.  Not  only  in  Alaska,  but  among 
the  churches  and  before  the  congressional 
committees,  has  Dr.  Jackson  pressed  the 
course  of  education  in  Alaska  as  the  basis 
of  all  the  work  of  civilization  to  be  there 
accomplished. 

No  form  of  government  so  depends  for 
efficiency  and  perpetuity  on  the  general  edu- 
cation of  the  citizens  as  does  the  republican. 
A  republic  will   inevitably  fall  if  its  people 


EDUCATION  IN  ALASKA.  3OI 

are  uneducated.  The  life  of  a  republic  is 
a  perpetual  struggle  against  ignorance. 
The  strength  of  any  nation  is  in  the  ratio 
of  the  acquaintance  of  the  people  with  the 
alphabet  and  their  obedience  to  the  ten 
commandments.  France  fell  before  Prussia, 
not  on  the  question  of  guns,  but  on  that  of 
spelling-books.  An  army  that  could  read 
demolished  an  army  that  could  not  read. 
France  herself  recognized  this,  and  almost 
her  first  effort  at  reform  was  sending 
schoolmasters  into  the  army  and  opening 
communal  schools. 

Many  of  the  finest  thinkers  in  America 
are  convinced  that  there  should  be  an  edu- 
cational limit  to  the  franchise  ;  our  ablest 
men  are  amonof  those  who  see  the  ne- 
cessity  of  compulsory  education.  One  of 
the  reports  from  the  United  States  De- 
partment of  Superintendence  of  Educa- 
tion says:  "An  ignorant  voter  is  a  peril 
to  the  perpetuity  and  prosperity  of  our 
free  institutions."  Elections  by  the  illiter- 
ate are  a  farce  or  a  tragedy ;  they  often 
begin  in  one,  and  end  in  the  other.  Whisky 
and  money  rule  the  polls  where  there  come 


302  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

to  vote  men  who  cannot  read  their  ballot 
and  who  have  not  read  the  newspaper. 
Lord  Sherburne  calls  the  ballot,  in  the 
hands  of  the  man  who  does  not  know 
his  letters,  "  the  apotheosis  of  brute 
force." 

Our  general  government  has  come  to 
realize  the  fruitlessness  of  trying  to  com- 
pose our  Indian  difficulties  with  either  bot- 
tles, bullets  or  bullocks.  Books  are  the 
only  true  civilizers ;  and  so  at  Carlisle,  at 
Hampden,  at  Albuquerque  and  at  Forest 
Grove  we  have  now  gathered  hundreds  of 
Indian  youth — material  for  citizens.  In  the 
beginning  of  our  governmental  relations 
with  Alaska  it  is  well  to  deal  with  the 
Indian  question  there  on  the  basis  of  the 
school. 

Since  the  opening  of  our  missions  in 
Alaska  the  importance  of  establishing 
common  schools  has  been  urged  upon 
our  congressional  committees.  At  Wash- 
ington, at  New  York,  at  Asbury  Park, 
at  Chautauqua  and  at  other  places,  Dr. 
Jackson  has  within  two  years  addressed 
large  educational  assemblies  on  the  topic, 


EDUCATION  IN  ALASKA.  3O3 

"  The  Neo^lect  of  Education  in  Alaska." 
As  a  result  of  these  efforts,  a  request  for 
an  appropriation  of  fifty  thousand  dollars 
by  Congress  was  made  by  President  Ar- 
thur on  behalf  of  education  in  Alaska, 

When  the  school-building  at  Sitka  burned 
down,  a  request,  strongly  endorsed  by  Sec- 
retary Folger,  was  before  the  Committee 
on  Public  Buildings  and  Grounds,  that  the 
hospital-building  occupied  by  the  boys' 
boarding-school  of  Sitka  should  be  pre- 
sented to  a  board  of  three  trustees,  to  hold 
for  the  Board  of  Home  Missions  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  on  condition  of  the 
premises  being  repaired  and  kept  open,  on 
proper  footing,  as  a  school  for  Indian  boys. 

For  some  years  it  was  the  plan  of  the 
government  to  assign  to  the  different  re- 
ligious denominations  of  the  country  cer- 
tain tribes  of  Indians,  in  certain  specified 
localities,  for  the  establishment  of  schools 
among  them.  At  these  schools  certain 
expenses — as  the  salary  of  teachers — were 
paid  by  the  government,  and  the  church 
provided  the  other  funds  needed.  If  such 
a  plan  could  be  worked  out  in  Alaska,  it 


304  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

would  greatly  help  the  natives  of  the  Ter- 
ritory, the  government  affording  support 
for  the  teacher,  on  the  ground  of  a  public- 
school  system,  and  the  Church  seeing  that 
the  teacher  was  one  competent  to  give 
religious  as  well  as  secular  training  to  the 
young.  The  Presbyterian  Church  has 
already  sent  out  a  number  of  teachers 
and  established,  at  large  outlay,  boarding- 
and  day-schools,  with  various  buildings. 

Alaska  is  the  only  section  of  our  country 
where  the  government  has  not  furnished 
aid  for  schools,  unless  it  be  in  places  where 
local  civil  aid  was  sufficient.  The  friends 
of  education  everywhere,  in  the  name  of 
common  justice,  should  press  Congress 
for  a  school  fund  for  Alaska.  The  io-nor- 
ance  there  is  a  sore  on  the  body  politic  ; 
and  "if  one  member  suffer,  all  the  members 
suffer  with  it." 

The  National  Bureau  of  Education  (Feb- 
ruary 15,  1882)  transmitted  to  Congress  a 
special  message,  endorsed  by  the  Secretary 
of  the  Interior,  asking  for  fifty  thousand 
dollars  for  educational  purposes  in  Alaska. 

Report  of  Alaskan  schools,  March,  1882: 


EDUCATION  IN  ALASKA.  305 

Fort  Wrangell. 

I.  The  Industrial  Home :  Mrs.  McFarland.     Pupils,  30. 

II.  The  Day- School :  Miss  Dunbar  and  two  assistants.     Pu- 
pils, 1 00  +  . 

III.  The  Beach  School:  Mrs.  Corlies.     Attendance,  large,  but 
variable  ;  of  visiting  tribes. 

IV.  The    Night-School   for    Adults :     Messrs.    Young    and 
Corlies. 

Sitka. 

I.  The  Boarding- School  for  Boys  :  Inmates,  30. 

II.  The  Day-School :  Mr.  Alonzo  Austin,  Miss  Austin;  Ma- 
tron, Mrs.  Austin.     Pupils,  250 +  . 

III.  Russian  School  at  Sitka  :  Mrs.  Zechard.     Pupils,  50. 

Takoo. 
Summer  School :  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Corlies. 

WiLLARD. 

Day-School :  Louie  and  Tillie  Paul  (natives).     Pupils,  60. 

Haines. 
Day-School:  Rev.  E.  S.  Wiilard.     Pupils,  70. 

Boyd. 
Day-School:  Mr.  and  Mrs.  W.  B.  Styles,     Pupils,  80. 

Jackson, 
Day-School :  Mr.  J.  E.  Chapman.     Pupils,  63. 

Unalashka. 
Hussian  School :  Greek  priest.     Pupils,  15. 

Belkofskv. 
Russian  School :  Greek  priest.     Pupils,  17. 

Seal  Islands. 
Two  Schools :  Under  care  of  the  Alaskan  Commercial  Com- 
pany.    Attendance,  moderate. 
20 


306  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

The  above  represent  all  the  educational 
privileges  of  Alaska  in  1882,  leaving  a 
population  of  twenty  thousand  entirely 
unprovided  with  schools  or  teachers.  All 
the  institutions  above  enumerated  are  on 
the  coast  islands,  or  closely  upon  the  coast, 
while  the  interior  is  as  yet  entirely  destitute. 
The  tribes  reached  are  the  Aleuts,  the 
Stickeens,  the  Takoos,  the  Hoonyahs,  the 
Chilcats,  the  Hydahs  and  the  Sitkas.  Other 
tribes  are  appealing  for  schools  and  teach- 
ers. 

A  large  field  is  yet  to  be  reached ;  for 
this  men  and  money  in  no  small  quantities 
are  called  for.  It  is  only  fair  that  to  the 
support  of  the  ordinary  day-schools,  which 
are  giving  instruction  in  the  simplest 
branches  of  education  and  fittinof  a  laree 
population  to  be  useful  and  self-supporting 
citizens,  orovernment  should  lend  its  aid. 

But,  while  philanthropists  and  friends  of 
education  everywhere  claim  this  aid,  the 
Church  does  not  expect  to  fall  back  upon 
it  as  lessening  her  own  donations,  ever 
increasingly  needed  in  the  Sabbath-  and 
boarding-schools  and  for  the  sending  and 


EDUCATION  IN  ALASKA.  307 

maintainine  of  missionaries.  We  look 
hopefully  forward  to  a  day  when  the  faith- 
ful toilers  in  the  work  in  Alaska  will  see 
the  reward  of  their  heroic  and  self-sacrificing 
labors  in  an  enlightened  and  thriving  popu- 
lation, and  will  joyfully  reflect  that  they  have 
rescued  from  extinction  these  interesting 
branches  of  the  human  family.  It  has 
been  mentioned  that  at  the  recommenda- 
tion of  the  Hon.  Vincent  Colger,  in  1870  a 
request  was  made  from  the  Board  of  Indian 
Commissioners  that  Congress  should  appro- 
priate one  hundred  thousand  dollars  for  the 
education  and  civilization  of  Indians  in 
Alaska.  The  Secretary  of  the  Interior  in 
April,  1870,  urged  this  request  upon  the 
United  States  Senate.  The  Hon.  Felix  R. 
Brunot,  chairman  of  the  Board  of  Indian 
Commissioners,  also  urged  this  appropria- 
tion. Finally,  a  bill  was  passed  appropriating 
fifty  thousand  dollars  for  the  establishment  of 
schools  for  the  Alaskan  Indians,  and  placing 
these  tribes  under  the  care  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  the  Interior.  But,  though  this  bill 
was  passed,  nothing  was  done,  and  for 
years  such  men  as  Brunot,  Farwell,  Dodge, 


308  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

Stuart,  Bishop  and  others  pleaded  hard  for 
government  schools  and  the  use  of  the 
specified  funds.  Absolutely  nothing  was 
done  until  1877,  when  Mrs.  McFarland 
began  her  work  at  Fort  Wrangell.  The 
fifty  thousand  dollars  appropriated  in  1870 
have  ^yovqA  di  vox  prcsterea  nihil  \  it  is  to  be 
hoped  that  the  fifty  thousand  dollars  called 
for  in  1 88 1  will  have  a  more  substantial  exist- 
ence. Alaska  must  have  common  schools 
and  a  government.  At  present  there  is 
absolutely  no  law  but  revenue  law.  When 
that  is  infringed,  the  culprits,  if  they  can  be 
secured,  are  sent  to  Portland,  Oregon,  for 
trial.  For  several  winters  the  need  of 
Territorial  government  for  Alaska  has  been 
urged  upon  members  of  Congress;  without 
this,  neither  life  nor  property  is  safe,  nor 
has  business  any  protection  in  the  Territory. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

BURIAL    CUSTOMS  OF  THE  ALASKANS. 

SINCE  the  earliest  times,  various  meth- 
ods of  disposing  of  the  dead  have 
been  in  vogue  among  men.  These  may  be 
briefly  divided  as  earth-burial,  aerial  burial, 
water-burial  and  cremation,  or  burning. 
These  modes  of  burial  do  not  have  each 
a  separate  locale  in  the  various  races  and 
tribes,  but  all  the  forms  may  be  found  to 
exist  in  the  same  race.  For  instance,  our 
American  Indians  practice  all  these  meth- 
ods; and  so,  from  the  earliest  known  date, 
all  the  above  fashions  were  used  in  Asia 
and  in  Africa,  the  religion,  the  climate  or 
the  peculiar  circumstances  of  a  country 
regulating  the  popularity  or  the  univer- 
sality of  particular  fashions. 

In  dividing  as  above,  earth- burial  would 
include  cave-burial  and  the  use  of  tombs 
built  upon  the  ground ;  also  in  either  earth 

309 


3IO  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

or  aerial  burial  mummifying  the  dead  may 
be  included.  There  are  also  places  where 
one  or  two  of  these  modes  may  be  combined, 
as  in  Siam,  where  a  body  is  placed,  doubled 
up,  in  an  urn  or  a  jar,  having  holes  for 
drainaofe  of  all  moisture ;  and  after  a 
year,  during  which  the  body  shrivels  in 
this  urn,  it  is  either  buried  or  burned. 

In  common  with  other  Indians  of  our 
country,  the  Alaskans  have  several  styles 
of  disposing  of  their  dead.  We  give  a 
brief  grlance  at  these. 

I.  Earth- Burial. 

This  is  probably  the  oldest  form  of  burial, 
that  practiced  by  the  antediluvians — at  least 
in  the  line  of  Seth.  We  find  the  elder  branch 
of  the  Shemites,  of  which  Abraham  be- 
came the  representative,  using  earth-bur- 
ial. Among  Christian  nations,  with  more 
or  less  simplicity  of  religious  form,  the 
body  is  committed  to  the  dust.  Where  earth- 
burial  survives  in  heathenism,  it  is  associated 
with  heathen  ceremonies  and  superstitions. 

The  Alaskan  believes  that  in  the  next 
world  the  dead  need  those  same  aids  and 


BURIAL-CUSTOMS   OF  THE  ALASKANS.    313 

comforts  of  food,  clothes  and  fire  that  they 
needed  in  this.  The  Hereafter  is  vague  and 
horrible  ;  a  strange  terror  broods  over  the 
world  to  come,  and  upon  that  mysterious 
journey  from  the  regions  of  the  known  and 
the  finite  to  the  unknown  and  the  infinite. 

If  a  person  dies  in  his  house,  most  of  the 
Alaskan  tribes  hold  that  house  sacred  to 
the  dead  and  unfit  thereafter  for  the  habi- 
tation of  the  survivors ;  so  no  living  foot 
may  cross  that  threshold  which  once  the 
dead  has  passed  in  his  awful*  silence. 
Therefore  the  dying  one,  instead  of  be- 
ing allowed  to  rest  in  peace  in  his  last 
hours,  is  hastily  lifted  from  his  couch  and 
put  out  of  doors  by  a  hole  in  the  rear 
wall,  so  that  neither  house  nor  threshold 
may  belong  in  mystic  lien  to  the  departed. 

When  an  earth-burial  is  made,  clothing, 
weapons,  domestic  utensils  and  food  are 
placed  in  and  upon  the  grave.  A  fire  also 
is  often  lighted,  and  kept  burning  near  the 
mound  for  some  time,  that  the  spirits  may  be 
propitiated  and  the  dead  not  be  cold  and 
without  fire  with  which  to  cook  in  the  next 
world.       Mr.     Willard     describes     several 


SH  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

scenes  where,  bodies  having  been  buried, 
the  friends  afterward  became  distressed 
as  to  the  state  of  the  dead  and  insisted 
upon  building  large  funeral-fires  above 
the    graves. 

Mr.  W.  H.  Dall  states  that  cave-burial 
was  the  most  ancient  method  in  Alaska, 
and  describes  the  caves  of  Adakh  and 
Amaknak.  At  Adakh  there  are  also 
burial-mounds,  those  so  far  found  being 
small.  It  will  be  strange  if  large  ones  are 
not  disccfvered  in  Alaska,  for  mound-burial 
has  been  practiced  from  time  immemorial 
by  the  Mongolian  races  and  the  Ugrians. 
'A  line  of  mounds  stretches  eastward  from 
ancient  Lydia,  and  runs  out  even  on  the 
Kamtchatka  or  the  Chuckee  peninsula. 
Dall  also  states  that  poor  and  unpopular 
individuals  were  in  burial  wrapped  in  mat- 
ting and  laid  on  a  bed  of  moss  without  carv- 
ings or  offerings  near  them.  We  must 
also  remember  that  slaves,  poor  widows, 
young  orphans  and  many  others  in  Alaska 
are  given  no  burial,  but  are  merely  exposed, 
cast  out  in  the  woods  or  left  on  the  sea- 
shore for  birds,  beasts  and  fishes  to  devour. 


BURIAL-CUSTOMS   OF   THE   ALASKANS.    315 

Up  to  the  historic  period  many  Alaskans 
made  mummies  of  the  dead  or  dried  the 
body  in  as  HfeHke  a  position  as  possible, 
putting  skin,  wooden  or  clay  masks  on  the 
faces  and  ornamenting  the  wrappings  with 
pictures  and  totems.  On  the  Aleutian  isl- 
ands bodies  are  embalmed  or  dried  and 
kept  for  a  long  time.  Mothers  will  retain 
children's  bodies  in  the  house  for  months, 
attending  to  them  daily  with  loving  care. 

II.  Aerial  Burial.^'' 
I.  Lodge-Burial. —  Captain  F.  W.  Beech- 
ey  in  his  Narralive  of  a  Voyage  describes 
Alaskan  lodge-burial.  The  example  he 
details  is  at  Cape  Espenberg.  Here  was 
really  a  burial-ground,  as  a  number  of 
the  mortuary  lodges  were  grouped.  A 
double  tent  of  drift-wood  is  put  loosely 
together  in  a  conical  form.  The  logs  and 
spars  are  fastened  with  sufficient  closeness 
to  prevent  the  depredations  of  wolves  and 
foxes.  A  platform  of  drift-wood  is  built  in 
the  centre  of  the  tent,  and  on  this  the  body, 

*  This  includes  all  burial  above  the  surface  of  the  earth  not 
in  caves  or  tombs. 


3l6  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

dressed  in  skin  or  feather  robes,  is  laid, 
well  wrapped  in  matting  up  to  the  neck. 
Over  it  is  then  placed  a  robe  of  deer-  or 
wolf-skins.  Upon  the  tent-poles  or  on 
the  ground  near  are  utensils,  as  trays, 
paddles,  bowls  and  musical  instruments. 

An  Indian  living  at  Cape  Espenberg 
was  asked  the  reason  of  this  provision. 
He  pointed  to  the  western  sky : 

"There,  where  our  dead  are  gone,  they 
eat,  drink,  dance  and  sing  songs :  we  pro- 
vide for  their  future." 

2.  Box-Burial. — The  Innuits  and  the 
Ingaliks  practice  box-burial.  A  box  of 
strong  planks  is  made,  and  the  body, 
dressed,  is  doubled  up  and  laid  within  it. 
The  sides  of  the  box  are  colored  with 
red  chalk  in  designs  of  lines  and  circles, 
the  totems  of  the  dead  and  his  favorite 
animals.  Four  strong  spruce  posts  are 
set  up  and  the  box  held  between  them, 
from  two  to  four  feet  above  the  ground. 
On  each  of  the  four  posts  an  offering  is 
hung,  as  a  kettle,  a  kantag,  or  eating-dish, 
a  pair  of  snow-shoes  and  some  other  fa- 
vorite article.     A   pair  of   paddles   and    a 


BUKIAL-CUSTOMS   OF   THE  ALASKANS.  3I9 

fishing- spear    are    also    set   up   over  the 

grave,  and  even  a  kyack,  or  canoe,  is  left 
there  if  the  dead  man  was  rich. 


INNUIT    GRAVE. 


This  custom  of  putting  gifts  on  a  g-rave 
need  not  be  sought  so  far  off  as  Alaska. 
In  Greenwood  cemetery,  in  Pere  la  Chaise 


320  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

and  In  many  German  burial-grounds,  one 
sees  graves — especially  those  of  children 
— covered  with  toys,  either  laid  exposed 
upon  the  grave  or  protected  by  a  glass 
case. 

In  these  box-burials  the  women's  o-raves 
are  known  by  the  utensils  of  feminine  use, 
the  men's  by  the  weapons,  placed  upon  them. 
If  the  dead  warrior  had  taken  scalps  in 
his  batdes,  these  are  hung  above  his 
last  resting-place. 

To  indicate  the  period  of  mourning  the 
Alaskan  Indians  do  not  change  the  fashion 
of  their  garments,  but  cut  their  hair  and 
abstain  from  the  performance  of  certain 
ordinary  acts,  as  hunting  birds'  eggs  or 
cutting  wood.  Sometimes,  also,  they  color 
their  faces  with  dark  pigment.  The  women 
sit  for  some  time  by  the  dead  body,  singing 
mournful  chants.  At  the  end  of  a  year 
they  have  a  feast  in  honor  of  the  depart- 
ed, and  the  mourning-period  is  considered 
over.  The  doubling  of  the  dead  bodies 
causes  the  coffin  of  an  adult  to  be  short. 

3.  Scaffold- Burial. — Almost  all  Amer- 
ican tribes  have  pracdced  burial  on   scaf- 


BURIAL-CUSTOMS   OF  THE  ALASKANS.    32 1 

folds.  The  reason  for  this  is  evident.  A 
people  unable  to  fashion  strong  wooden 
or  metal  coffins  would,  in  a  country  filled 
with  flesh- eating  wild  beasts,  often  find 
the  sepulchres  violated.  To  keep  the 
body  from  beasts  of  prey,  it  could  be 
laid  high  up  on  a  scaffold,  with  the  ad- 
ditional advantage  that  the  sun  and  the 
wind  would  soon  dry  and  shrivel  it. 

In  Alaska  two  or  three  forms  of  aerial 
burial  are  practiced. 

A  scaffold  from  eight  to  fifteen  feet  high 
is  made,  strongly  lashed  together,  and  on 
this  is  placed  a  platform,  hung  a  little  lower 
than  the  tops  of  the  scaffold-poles.  The 
body  is  then  wrapped  either  in  skins  or 
in  matting  and  laid  on  the  platform.  It 
is  covered  either  by  a  box  of  spruce  boards 
or  by  a  skin  robe.  The  poles  are  then  hung 
with  the  usual  offerings.  Under  this  scaf- 
fold the  mourners  keep  their  watch  with 
fires,  songs  and  prayers  or  incantations 
for  the  dead. 

Scaffold-burial    is   practiced    by    nations 
very  remote  from  each  other,  as  the  Alas- 
kan Indians  and  the  native  Australians. 
21 


322  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

Another  form  of  Alaskan  scaffold-burial 
is  in  canoes.  The  canoe — often  a  very 
handsome  one — of  bark,  covered  with 
pictures  and  thirty  feet  long,  is  suspend- 
ed between  poles.  The  dead  lies  in  this 
canoe,  and  over  the  body  a  smaller  canoe  is 
turned,  affording  protection  from  birds  or 
from  the  weather. 

These  canoe  burial-places — in  the  solemn 
stillness  and  darkness  of  the  spruce  and 
cedar  woods,  and  usually  on  the  bank  of 
some  wide  stream — are  picturesque  and 
touching.  The  bowls,  the  cups,  the  weap- 
ons of  the  dead  one,  suggest  the  occupa- 
tions of  his  life,  and  also  the  blackness  that 
brooded  over  his  future  when  he  drifted  into 
another  world,  utterly  unknown,  that  all  his 
life  had  bounded  his  horizon  with  a  wall  of 
darkness  out  of  which  had  never  come  the 
word  :  "  Eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard, 
neither  have  entered  into  the  heart  of  man, 
the  things  God  hath  prepared  for  those  that 
love  him." 

A  fourth  form  of  aerial  burial  is  that  of 
placing  a  platform  in  high  trees  where 
several  branches  afford  a  support  for  the 


CANOE-BURIAL. 


BURIAL-CUSTOMS   OF   THE   ALASKANS.    325 


BURIAL-BASKET  FOR  A  BABY. 


structure.     Sometimes  a  canoe   is  put  on 
the  platform,  sometimes  the  body  is  merely 


326  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

wrapped  in  skins  ;  or  a  canoe  is  hung   in 
the  tree,  without  platform. 

Yet  another  form  of  aerial  burial  is  by 
baskets.  This  is  most  used  for  children, 
but  sometimes  for  adults.  The  basket  is 
frequently  shaped  like  the  papoose  cradle, 
with  a  board  at  the  back,  a  mattine  or 
wicker  front  and  a  handle  at  top,  by  which 
to  suspend  it.  The  body  is  packed  in  dried 
moss  or  grass. 

III.  House-Burial. 
The  Indians  sometimes  devote  one  of 
their  houses  to  the  use  of  their  dead.  This 
is  common  where  an  epidemic  has  prevailed 
and  several  members  of  the  family  have 
died  of  it.  Dall  describes  coming  upon 
a  cluster  of  houses  on  the  bank  of  the 
Yukon,  out  of  which  the  few  persons  left 
living  had  departed  and  the  dead  kept  their 
state  alone.  Little  flacrs  and  fragments  of 
cloth  fluttered  as  offerings  above  these 
homes  of  the  lost.  The  domestic  utensils 
were  scattered  at  their  doors ;  the  canoes, 
drawn  up  on  the  bank,  rotted  in  sun  and 
rain.     Whole  families  had  here  perished  as 


BURIAL-CUSrOMS   OF   THE   ALASKANS.    327 

everywhere  the  aborigines  or  Mongolian 
Americans  are  perishing,  and  the  dead- 
houses  by  the  Yukon  were  but  types  and 
precursors  of  the  dweUing-places  of  that 
entire  race,  except  those  fragments  which 
Christianity  is  now  tardily  snatching  from 
destruction. 

When  the  family-dwelling  is  not  used  as 
a  tomb,  sometimes  smaller  houses  of  spruce 
logs  and  planks  are  built  for  this  purpose. 
At  other  times  the  burial-house  is  a  strong 
skin  tent  raised  on  a  platform,  out  of  reach 
of  wild  animals. 

Dall  found  at  several  Indian  cemeteries 
for  lodge-burials  very  elaborate  carvings, 
totems  and  ornaments  of  great  value;  also 
carvings  and  tracings  singularly  like  those 
of  the  Ugrian  Cave-Dwellers  in  France. 
In  all  Indian  burials  the  distinctions  of  caste 
or  of  wealth  are  very  particularly  marked. 
Often,  in  house-  or  basket-burials,  boxes  of 
food  are  hung  up  for  the  use  of  the  dead. 

IV.  Water-Burial. 
This    is    the    form    that   has    been    least 
practiced  by  our  American   Indians.     An- 


328  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

clently,  the  custom  was  not  uncommon, 
especially  in  the  Ugrian  stock.  That  the 
Ugrians  had  this  fashion  in  very  early  days 
is  testified  by  the  legends.  We  are  told 
that  the  Hyperboreans — "  furthest  removed 
of  all  the  gods  " — cast  themselves  into  the 
sea  when  they  found  death  near.  Baldur 
the  Beautiful,  Freya's  son,  was  sent  to  sea 
in  a  burning  burial-ship,  when,  by  the 
machinations  of  Loki,  he  had  lost  his  life. 
Alaric  the  Goth  was  buried  in  the  bed  of 
a  stream.  The  dead  De  Soto  was  commit- 
ted to  the  Mississippi  at  flood,  his  body 
being  enclosed  in  a  weighted  and  hermet- 
ically-sealed wooden  chest. 

The  Alaskans  mostly  practice  aquatic 
burial  for  women,  slaves  or  witches  who 
have  been  murdered  by  shamanism,  casting 
their  bodies  into  the  sea.  Dead  babies  are 
also  often  put  into  a  little  canoe,  the  child's 
body  being  also  in  the  cradle  or  basket  en- 
closure padded  with  moss  in  which  it  passes 
the  first  year  of  its  life.  This  little  canoe  the 
poor  mother  pushes  out  into  the  stream, 
and  the  stream  gives  it  to  the  river,  the 
river  to  the  sea.     Possibly  she  dreams  that 


BURIAL^CUSTOMS   OF  THE  ALASKANS.    329 

the  gods  watch  the  floating  casket  and 
somewhere  on  the  journey  receive  the  child. 
Knowing  her  own  hard  hfe  and  the  bitter 
bondage  of  all  her  diminishing  people,  she 
may  consider  the  little  one  far  better  off 
in  early  taking  its  chances  of  the  Un- 
known. 

At  all  these  burials  certain  rites  and 
ceremonies  are  common.  Clothine,  blank- 
ets,  furs,  all  kinds  ofvaluable  native  property, 
will  be  burned  or  given  away.  Sacrifices,  as 
of  animals,  but  most  often  of  slaves,  are  also 
common.  Widows  are  burned — not  quite 
to  death,  but  flung  into  the  fire  and  then 
pulled  out  and  thrown  back  until  insensibil- 
ity supervenes.  Funeral  songs,  feasts  and 
dances  are  customary,  and  certain  games 
are  sacred  to  funerals  and  supposed  to  con- 
duce to  the  happiness  of  the  spirit. 

V.  Cremation. 
The  last  method  of  disposing  of  the 
dead  remaining  to  be  noticed  is  crema- 
tion. This  is  one  of  the  most  ancient  forms 
among  all  nations.  Profane  history  chroni- 
cles the  custom  of  burnine  the  bodies  of 


330  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

the  dead  from  a  period  coincident  with  the 
eighth  judge  of  Israel.  It  probably  origi- 
nated early,  among  the  Fire- Worshipers, 
and  fire-  or  sun-worship  no  doubt  dates 
from  Babel,  or  even  earlier. 

Cremation,  in  Alaska,  seems  a  coarse, 
curious,  grotesque  caricature  of  the  Ro- 
man ceremony.  The  Alaskan  builds  his 
pyre  wide  and  high.  He  wraps  his  dead 
in  his  best  garments  and  lays  him  on  the 
pile  ;  then  upon  him  are  heaped  offerings 
from  friends,  and  the  personal  and  most 
useful  property  of  the  deceased.  One 
after  another  the  gifts  accumulate — food, 
carvings,  spoons,  bowls,  paddles,  spears, 
bows  and  arrows,  blankets,  furs,  snow- 
shoes,  clothes, — a  goodly  heap.  The  sha- 
man beofins  his  incantations  and  his  dan- 
cing  ;  the  mourners  break  into  their  death- 
wail  and  their  funeral-chants.  As  the  torch 
is  applied  that  frenzy  which  fire  inspires 
in  human  bosoms  takes  full  possession  of 
the  bystanders  ;  leaps,  howls,  cries,  drinking 
— orgies  of  all  kinds — break  forth.  One 
stirs  the  fire ;  another  adds  fuel  ;  a  third 
flings  on    further  gifts.     The   yelling  sha- 


BURIAL-CUSTOMS   OF   THE   ALASKANS.    333 

man  encouraofes  the  madness.  Often  hu- 
man  life  is  sacrificed ;  at  all  times  loss  of 
property,  wounds  and  bruises  are  the  re- 
sults. This  method  of  disposing  of  the 
dead  is  that  most  firmly  entrenched  among 
the  Alaskan  tribes.  To  destroy  this  cus- 
tom our  missionaries  have  directed  their 
first  efforts,  since  all  the  Alaskan  super- 
stitions seem  to  cluster  about  that  blaz- 
ing pyre. 

"Burn  my  body!  Burn  me!"  pleaded 
a  dying  Alaskan.  "  I  fear  the  cold.  Why 
should  I  go  shivering  through  all  the  ages 
and  the  distances  of  the  next  world  ?" 

The  renunciation  of  cremation  and  the 
acceptance  of  Christian  burial  are  among 
the  first  marks  of  the  civilizing  or  the 
Christianizing  process  among  the  native 
population.  "Will  you  burn  or  will  you 
bury  your  dead?"  becomes  a  test-question. 
Around  the  burning  cling  all  the  supersti- 
tions and  all  the  degrading  rites  of  their 
heathenism. 


CHAPTER    XV. 

INDIAN  PROGRESS  IN  ALASKA. 

DR.  CORLIES,  writing  of  the  feast 
at  Shaaks's  house,  which  has  been 
described  in  the  chapter  on  Fort  Wran- 
gell,  says :  "  After  the  feast  the  tables  are 
removed  and  the  people  prepare  to  enjoy 
the  evening  in  innocent  games,  the  im- 
promptu soldiers  going  through  their  drill, 
etc.  Before  the  amusements  commence, 
however,  Shaaks  stands  up  and  tells  how 
they  have  been  bound  hand  and  foot  by 
superstidon.  Pointing  to  one  of  the  large 
elaborately-carved  pillars  which  support 
the  house,  he  says,  '  We  used  to  ask  that 
image  for  advice,  and  it  would  speak  to 
us ;  now  I  am  going  to  speak  to  it,  and 
I  think  it  will  answer  me.'  He  then  ad- 
dresses it,  but  of  course  no  answer  comes 

334 


INDIAN  PROGRESS  IN  ALASKA.  335 

from  its  wooden  lips.  He  says,  '  It  does 
not  speak  ;  it  cannot  speak.  We  for  ever 
put  all  this  foolishness  away.'  In  former 
times  they  would  bring  out  a  man  dressed 
as  a  white  bear,  and  this  to  them  was  so 
sacred  an  occasion  that  two  or  three  slaves 
must  be  sacrificed  to  appease  the  bear. 
Shaaks  speaks  again  :  '  A  short  time  ago 
we  would  not  have  dared  to  bring  this 
bear  out  without  sacrificing  a  slave,  but 
now  we  bring  him  out  for  the  last  time, 
just  to  show  that  we  put  all  these  things 
away,'  These  are  some  of  the  results 
effected  by  the  preaching  of  the  gospel 
of  Christ  Jesus  among  this  superstitious 
and  degraded  people.  To  God  be  all 
the  praise  !" 

This  same  chief,  George  Shaaks,  de- 
livered the  following  address  (August  4, 
1879)  in  a  conference  at  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Young's  house,  in  Fort  Wrangell : 

"  Formerly  my  heart  all  sick.  Tears  in 
my  eyes  all  the  time  because  my  people 
die  so  fast.  Now  my  heart  warm  as  I 
see  you  and  hear  your  good  words.  Last 
winter,  when  I  was   called  Shaaks"   (sue- 


33^  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

ceeded  to  the  chieftainship  of  the  tribe), 
"  only  two  of  my  family  Hving-.  My  broth- 
er took  sick,  and  I  did  everything  I  could 
to  make  him  well.  I  tried  white  doctors 
and  Indian  medicine-men  ;  they  could  not 
make  him  well.  I  very  sorry.  I  wanted 
to  die  too.  I  understand  now :  God  took 
his  breath.  I  couldn't  make  him  well 
against  God.  Sometimes  I  have  one  mind 
toward  God,  and  sometimes  another;  but 
now  I  have  one  mind.  Now  I  know  God 
is  above  all.  Now  I  know  God  is  stronger 
than  all. 

"After  steamboat  left"  (referring  to  a 
previous  conference  on  the  Stickeen  Riv- 
er), "  I  went  to  the  Indian  villao-e.  All 
the  people  asked  me  what  you  say.  They 
all  say  they  wanted  to  be  saved.  They 
wanted  Mr.  Young  to  tell  them  about 
God.  They  wanted  to  be  Mr.  Young's 
friends. 

"After  you  gone  I  hurried  down  the 
river  to  see  you.  I  left  all  my  berries  and 
fish,  and  came  all  night,  I  heard  that  you 
were  three  men  high  among  the  people — 
that   you  were    three    strong  men    in    the 


INDIAN  PROGRESS   IN  ALASKA.  337 

Church.  I  didn't  know  what  you  wanted 
to  see  me,  an  Indian,  for.  Now  I  know  you 
love  me  and  my  people,  and  my  heart  grows 
strong  in  the  right  way.  .  .  . 

"Formerly,  Indians  very  strange.  All 
their  ways  and  habits  and  customs  very 
different;  so  that  when  they  heard  about 
God  they  laughed  at  him.  We  did  not 
know  any  better;  now  we  learned  more 
about  him.  Formerly  we  made  strange 
his  name ;  now  we  love  him  and  want  to 
do  as  he  says." 

When  the  Sheldon  Jackson  Institute, 
at  Sitka,  was  burned,  some  of  the  boys 
wrote  these  following  letters.  They  were 
boys  who  had  been  in  school  less  than 
two  years — some  only  one  year — entering 
without  knowledge  of  English. 

"Dear  Mrs.  H.:  Our  house  is  burnt 
down.  All  the  boys  was  sleeping.  It 
began  at  three  o'clock.  One  boy  called 
out  fire,  our  house  is  burnmg.  We  thought 
our  teacher  was  burning  too.  Two  boys 
got  up  to  the  teacher.  Everything  Is  safty 
except  our  flag  and  orgen.  ...  I  dont  kno 

22 


338  AMONG    THE  ALASKANS. 

you  yet.     Nex  sterner  I  write  to  you  Beter 
than  this  time. 

"Yrs  respectly, 

"  Luke." 

"  Sitka,  Feb.  9th,  1882. 

*'  Dear  Friend  :  our  House  is  Burnt 
down  we  cant  find  a  good  House  now 
teacher  Said  to  us  that  he  would  find  a 
good  nex  Summer  we  didn't  know  any- 
thing about  it  one  Boy  call  out  fire  Boys 
our  House  is  burning  all  the  Boys  run 
out  we  thought  our  teacher  was  burning 
I  run  up  to  the  teacher  &  our  teacher  is 
good  we  can't  find  bter  teacher  and  him. 
well  you  please  our  flag  is  burnt 

"all  the  Boys  was  Sorry  for  you  flag 
the  big  Stove  is  Safe  jack  william  got  it 
out 

"our  School  was  on  fire  first  fore  thise 
reason  we  didn't  git  our  flag 

"Sand  me  answe  nex  Stemmer 

"  I  send  my  best  respect  to  all  boys  and 
to  you  also 

"  yours  truly 

"ned" 


INDIAN  PROGRESS  IN  ALASKA.  339 

"Dear    Mrs.    H.:    Our  house    is    burnt 

down ;    all   the    boys  was    sleeping.       We 

didn't   know   anything    about    it.       I    think 

we  will  have  a  nice  house  soon,  and  when 

we  are  living  in  it  I  will  write  to  you  and 

let  you  know.     I  feel  very  sorry  because 

our  house  was  burnt  down  ;  it  was  a  very 

nice  house,  but  now  we  haven't  got  such 

a  nice  house.     If  you  like   this  letter  I'll 

write  to  you  again  next  boat.     My  teacher 

is  very  good  to  me. 

"Archie." 

A   girl    from    Mrs.    McFarland's   home- 
school  writes : 

"  Fort  Wrangell,  Alaska, 
"  Feb.  13,  '82. 

"  Dear :  As  I   think  it  would  be  a 

great  disappointment  to  you  to  not  receive 
a  word  from  me,  I  will  write  now  thanking 
you  very  much  for  sending  me  a  pretty 
card  although  I  have  nothing  to  give  in 
return.  I  know  you  would  like  to  hear 
somethine  about  our  Christmas,  on  the 
forenoon  the  outside  school  boys  and  girls 
and  we  home  girls  were  gathered  in  our 
school    room  and  had   a  treat,   and   pres- 


340  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

ents  were  given   to  the  day  scholars,  and 
all  left  the  room  with  a  happy  heart,  and 
at  about    seven   o'clock   on   the   eve,   only 
we  home  gfirls  had  our  tree  in  the  school 
room,  and  two  of  the  larger  girls  played 
on   the  organ,  and  one  of   the  little  girls 
said  a  piece  to  Santa  Claus,  and  after  the 
presents  were    passed    to    us,  I  had  eight 
presents  of  which  two  of  them  I  will  name, 
the  first  was  a  beautiful  bible  from  our  Pas- 
ter, Mr.  Young,  and  the  other  a  large  blue 
covered  scrap-book  a  present  for  having 
the.  most  head  marks  in  my  class.     After 
we  all  had  our  presents  we  played  in  the 
room  till  it  was  time  to  go  to  bed,  and  all 
went  with  happy  hearts.     On  New  Years 
morning  we  had  our  gifts  under  our  plates, 
and  had  a  happy  New  Year.     I  must  tell 
you  that  I  have  a  bible  class  on  Sundays, 
all  the  litde  girls  that  can  read  pretty  well, 
and  I  am  proud  of  my  class  too,  you  asked 
me  how  old  I  am  well  I  am  two  years  older 
than  you,  and  I  have  been  in  the  home  two 
years.     Good  bye  for  the  present. 
"  From  your  Friend, 

"Jennie  M.  Tamaree." 


INDIAN  PROGRESS  IN  ALASKA.  34I 

Tillie  Paul  writes  from  her  Chilcat  mis- 
sion : 

"  I  am  so  disappointed  because  the  peo- 
ple makes  liquor  themselves  ;  we  hope  and 
pray  that  it  may  not  be  a  great  while  befor 
the  stop  it.  And  now  while  I  am  writing  to 
you,  a  dranken  woman  came  in  and  held 
my  hand,  and  I  run  out  with  my  pencil  in 
my  hand.  Another  time  the  chief  drank, 
and  the  wife  and  some  other  Indians,  and 
we  didn't  have  our  dinner  all  day.  I  don't 
know  what  to  do — that  makes  my  heart 
nearly  break  to  see  them  drank.  I  wish  I 
could  do  anything  for  these  poor  ignorant 
souls,  but  I  pray  that  God  might  safe  them. 

"  One  thing  we  need  the  most,  is  a  large 
hand  Bell.  We  got  a  tin-pan,  but  it's  not 
loud  enough.  My  school  are  getting  on 
very  nicely  ;  the  are  improving  very  much. 
Another  thing  we  need,  Sabbath-school 
papers.  We  did  not  have  any  boards  to 
makes  a  table ;  no  bedsteads  either ;  just 
sleep  in  a  cooking  house,  with  13  persons 
in  one  house.  And  now  in  haste  I  close 
with  Christian  love. 


342  AMONG    THE   ALASKANS. 

"  P.  S.  I  would  like  if  there  were  law  to 
restraint  those  Indians  from  making  liquor, 
for  there  is  plenty  of  it  in  this  place,  for  it  is 
the  root  of  all  evil  amongst  them.  If  the 
liquor  was  taken  from  them,  the  would  be 
peaceable  Indians." 

The  writer  of  the  above  letter  was 
educated  in  Mrs.  McFarland's  school  at 
Fort  Wrangell.  She  is  now  stationed  with 
her  husband  at  the  most  northern  mission 
as  yet  attempted  in  Alaska.  We  have  not 
attempted  to  correct  the  letter,  but  let  it 
be  remembered  that  four  years  ago  she 
was  a  heathen  child,  with  no  knowledge  of 
letters  or  of  Christianity. 


APPENDIX. 


CHRONOLOGY   OF   EVENTS   IN   ALASKA    MISSIONS. 

1877. 

August  10. — The  Rev.  Sheldon  Jackson  and  Mrs.  A.  R. 
McFarland  land  at  Fort  Wrangell  and  commence  Presby- 
terian missions  in  Alaska. 

December  28. — Clah  (Philip)  dies  at  Fort  Wrangell. 

1878. 

January. — The  Rev.  John  G.  Brady  is  appointed  by  the 
Presbyterian  Board  of  Home  Missions  for  service  in  Alaska. 

March  15. — Mr.  Brady  arrives  at  Fort  Wrangell. 

March  24. — The  first  Christian  marriages  among  Alas- 
kans, by  Rev.  J.  G.  Brady. 

April  II. — Rev.  J.  G.  Brady  and  Miss  F.  Kellogg  reach 
Sitka. 

April  17. — Miss  Kellogg  opens  school  in  Sitka. 

June. — Rev.  J.  G.  Brady  visits  the  Hoonyah,  Hootsnoo 
and  other  tribes  north  and  east  of  Sitka. 

August  8. — Rev.  S.  H.  Young  arrives  at  Fort  Wrangell. 

October  12. — "The  McFarland  Home"  started. 

December. — Rev.  S.  H.  Young  and  Miss  F.  Kellogg 
married. 

December  5. — Rev.  Dr.  Jackson   and    Mrs.  J.  McNair 

34.3 


344  APPENDIX. 

Wright   issue  an   appeal   for  Christmas   donations   to  the 
building  fund  for  the  "  McFarland  Home." 

1879. 

June  23. — Rev.  W.  H.  R.  Corlies  and  family  reach  Fort 
Wrangell. 

July  14. — The  Rev.  Drs.  Kendall,  Jackson  and  Lindsley, 
with  ladies,  arrive. 

August  3. — Church  organized  at  Fort  Wrangell. 

August  12. — Dr.  Jackson  starts  on  a  canoe-trip  of  two 
hundred  and  fifty  miles,  and  holds  councils  with  the  chiefs 
of  the  Hydah,  Tongass,  Tsimpsean  and  Chilcat  tribes. 

September  14. — Mr,  A.  E.  Austin  opens  the  Russian 
school  in  Sitka. 

October  5. — Church-building  at  Fort  Wrangell  occupied. 
Rev.  S.  H.  Young,  with  four  Indians,  makes  a  canoe-trip 
among  the  tribes  north  to  the  Chilcats. 

1880. 

March  25. — Miss  Linnie  Austin  reaches  Sitka. 

April — Revs.  S.  H.  Young  and  G.  W.  Lyon  make  a  ca- 
noe-trip among  the  Hydah  villages. 

May. — Rev.  G.  W.  Lyon  and  wife  reach  Sitka. 

August. — Mrs.  Dickinson  first  native  Alaskan  teacher 
among  the  Chilcats. 

November. — "The  Sheldon  Jackson  Institute,"  an  in- 
dustrial training-school  for  boys,  opened  at  Sitka. 

1881. 

March  25. — The  Rev.  E.  S.  Willard  is  appointed  to  labor 
for  the  Chilcats,  and  Mr.  A.  E.  Austin  for  Sitka. 

May  30. — The  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  attaches  Alaska  to  the  Synod  of  the  Columbia. 

July  18. — Rev.  E.  S.  Willard  and  wife,  accompanied  by 
Dr.  Jackson,  reach  Portage  Bay,  and  estabhsh  the  Chilcat 
mission  at  Haines. 


APPENDIX.  345 

July  20. — No  house  or  schoolroom  is  ready  for  the  Wil- 
lards,  and  no  funds  have  been  provided  for  erecting  these 
buildings.  The  missionaries  being  shelterless,  Dr.  Jack- 
son borrows  money  and  puts  up  a  house  and  schoolhouse. 
When  Dr.  Jackson  returns  to  New  York,  the  Woman's  Ex- 
ecutive Committee  assumes  the  responsibility  and  repays 
the  outlay. 

August  5. — Accompanied  by  Dr.  W.  H.  Corlies,  Dr. 
Jackson  goes  to  the  villages  of  the  Hoonyah  tribe  and 
locates  the  mission  to  the  Hoonyahs,  naming  the  station 
"  Boyd  "  and  providing  for  buildings. 

August  15.— Mr.  W.  B.  Styles  and  Miss  Ettie  Austin 
married  at  Sitka. 

November  7. — Walter  B.  Styles  and  wife  open  school  at 
Boyd  with  sixty  Indian  pupils. 

August  22. — Drs.  Corlies  and  Jackson  and  Mr.  J.  E. 
Chapman  set  out  on  a  canoe-trip  of  five  hundred  miles  to 
the  Hydah  villages  on  Prince  of  Wales  Island.  A  mission, 
named  by  the  missionaries  "Jackson,"  located  near  the 
Indian  village  of  Howkan. 

September  12. — Mr.  Chapman  opens  the  mission-school 
at  Jackson. 

November  22. — Rev.  J.  L.  Gould  is  commissioned  to  the 
Hydahs  at  Jackson,  and  Mrs.  A.  E.  Austin  is  appointed 
matron  at  "  The  Sheldon  Jackson  Institute,"  Sitka. 

December.— Mr.  and  Mrs.  W.  B.  Styles  are  commis- 
sioned teachers  to  the  Hoonyahs  at  Boyd,  Mr.  J.  E. 
Chapman  to  the  Hydahs  at  Jackson,  and  the  Rev.  John 
W.  McFarland  as  medical  missionary  to  Fort  Wrangell. 

1882. 

January  24. — "  The  Sheldon  Jackson  Institute  "  burned 
at  Sitka. 

February  4. — Post-office  secured  by  Dr.  Jackson  for  Rob- 
erts, on  Fontaine  Bay,  Klawack,  Jackson  and  Haines. 

March  11. — Rev.  J.  W.  McFarland,  nephew  of  Mrs.  R, 
A.  McFarland,  arrives  at  Fort  Wrangell. 


34^  APPENDIX. 

March  13. — Rev.  J.  W.  McFarland  and  Miss  Dunbar 
married  at  Fort  Wrangell. 

May. — Rev.  J.  L.  Gould  reaches  Jackson. 

June. — Rev.  Dr.  Corhes  opens  mission  to  Takoos  at 
Juneau. 

August  I. — Dr.  Jackson  concludes  the  raising  of  five 
thousand  dollars  for  rebuilding  "The  Sheldon  Jackson 
Institute,"  at  Sitka. 

September  10. — Saw-mill,  purchased  with  funds  raised 
by  Dr.  Jackson  and  Mrs.  J.  M,  Ham,  is  landed  at  Jackson. 
Miss  C.  F.  Gould,  missionary-teacher,  reaches  Jackson. 

September  12. — Rev.  Dr.  Jackson  arrives  at  Sitka,  with 
Miss  B.  L.  Matthews,  missionary-teacher  to  the  Chilcats. 

September  13. — The  Rev.  J.  G.  Brady  presents  the  mis- 
sion at  Sitka  with  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land,  upon 
which  Dr.  Jackson  erects  the  new  mission-buildings. 

December. — A  girls'  department  is  added  to  the  Sheldon 
Jackson  Institute. 

1883. 

February  9. — The  McFarland  Home,  at  Fort  Wrangell, 
is  burned,  with  all  furniture,  clothing,  stores,  etc. 

March. — Dr.  Jackson  receives  a  contract  from  the  United 
States  Post-Office  Department  to  supply  the  stations  at 
Haines,  Roberts,  Klawack  and  Jackson  with  a  monthly 
mail,  to  be  carried  by  Indians  in  canoes. 

June. — Mr.  W.  Donald  McLeod  is  sent  to  Jackson  to 
erect  the  saw-mill  and  teach  the  natives  how  to  use  it. 

INDIAN    RACES. 

Retzius  and  Humboldt  find  the  Pacific  coast  Indians 
"related  to  the  Mongols,  and  that  their  skulls  bear  strong 
resemblance  to  the  Mongol  Kalmucks." 

Sir  yohti  Richardson  calls  "  the  Finns,  Lapps  and  Es- 
quimaux littoral  peoples." 

IVilliajn  H.  Ball,  denying  that  these  Esquimaux  came 
from  Asia,  gathers  their  strongly-marked  tribes  into  the 
term  "  Orarian  peoples." 


APPENDIX.  347 

Mortoft  says  :  "The  race  of  the  circumpolar  regions,  Eu- 
ropean, Asian  and  American,  is  a  distinct  people." 

Foster  remarks :  "  The  Lapps,  Finns  and  Esquimaux 
have  not  shown  a  desire  to  penetrate :  they  are  a  race 
that  retreat  before  the  advance  of  civihzation." 

Dr.  Sheldon  Jackso7i,  having  studied  the  Alaskan  tribes 
in  their  own  homes,  pronounces  them,  in  mental  traits,  ar- 
tistic ideas  and  methods  of  labor,  singularly  like  the  Mon- 
golian Japanese. 

William  H.  Dull  says  that  many  of  the  abodes  of  his 
Orarians  are  identical  with  those  of  the  Cave-Dwellers  of 
Central  and  Southern  Europe,  and  their  drawings  are  sin- 
gularly analogous  to  those  found  in  the  caves  of  Dordogne, 
France. 

Lately  (1882),  British  Columbian  miners  found  in  Indian 
graves,  etc.,  near  Alaska,  Chinese  coins,  which  were  pro- 
nounced by  intelligent  Chinese  to  belong  to  some  of  the 
oldest  coinage  of  the  empire. 

Caflin's  investigations  led  him  to  the  same  result,  find- 
ing, especially  among  the  Indians  of  the  Pacific  coast, 
strongly-marked  traces  of  Mongolian  origin. 

ON  THE  FORMATION  OF  HOME-MISSION  BANDS, 
Every  Presbyterian  church  should  have  its  mission- 
bands  for  young  people.  No  matter  how  small  or  how 
poor  the  church  organization  may  be,  it  will  be  capable, 
rightly  directed,  of  doing  some  missionary  work ;  and  that 
church  thrives  best  that  has  the  most  missionary  spirit. 
Nothing  so  harmonizes  and  enlightens  and  liberalizes  a 
church  as  to  have  its  elements  drawn  together  in  some 
common  missionary  enterprise. 

Some  have  objected  that  it  was  difficult  to  have  boys' 
mission-bands,  because  there  was  little  work  that  the  boys 
could  do,  and  little  to  occupy  them  at  their  meetings.  Boys 
too  have  complained,  with  some  justice,  that  "  all  the  folks 
did  with  them  in  mission-work  was  to  tell  them  to  bring 
their  money." 

If  missionary  news  is  brightly  and  graphically  given,  boys 


348  APPENDIX. 

will  be  interested  in  it ;  and  the  leader  of  a  band  should 
give  time  to  collecting  and  arranging  such  news,  in  order  to 
make  it  attractive.  The  boys  can  themselves  read  at  their 
meetings  missionary  items,  tales  or  letters  and  speak  mis- 
sionary pieces.  A  band  should  also  be  put  in  correspond- 
ence with  a  missionary,  members  of  the  band  in  turn  writ- 
ing the  letters.  Boys  interested  in  the  support  of  a  boy  in 
some  of  our  Indian  schools  will  find  great  satisfaction  in 
securing  their  funds  by  gardening,  poultry-raising  or  doing 
such  work  as  they  can  obtain.  Boys  make  excellent  col- 
lectors of  band  funds.  Where  there  are  "working-meet- 
ings" of  a  band,  the  boys  need  not  be  idle  ;  hundreds  of 
pretty  fancy  advertisement  cards  can  be  collected ;  and 
hymns,  texts  and  verses  can  be  neatly  glued  over  the  adver- 
tisement, making  beautiful  and  highly-valued  cards  for 
mission-schools.  Picture-books,  durable  and  of  light  weight, 
can  be  made  of  leaves  cut  from  various-colored  paper 
cambrics,  the  edges  carefully  pointed  with  scissors,  and 
pictures  and  verses  pasted  on,  the  leaves  then  sewn  loosely 
together  and  fastened  with  a  bow  of  ribbon. 

Parcels  of  clothing,  Christmas  presents,  books,  cards, 
etc.,  can  be  sent  by  mail  to  any  mission-station  in  the 
United  States,  each  bundle  containing  not  over  four  pounds. 
No  bottles  of  liquids  and  no  confections  are  allowed  by  the 
mail  laws  in  such  packages. 

A  band  can  have  meetings  at  regular  times,  to  suit  con- 
venience ;  they  can  have  membership  fees  and  regular 
contributions,  or  not ;  they  can  raise  their  funds  by  their 
own  subscriptions,  by  making  collections,  by  having  con- 
certs, fairs  or  suppers.  All  these  arrangements  must  be 
left  to  the  good  judgment  of  band-leaders,  and  be  governed 
by  the  circumstances  in  which  the  band  finds  itself.  The 
one  grand  affair  is  to  have  the  band  on  some  terms. 
Wherever  there  is  a  church  without  such  an  organization 
for  the  training  and  utilizing  of  the  young,  any  Christian 
woman  in  that  church  should  resolutely  make  up  her  mind 
that  she  and  her  church  shall  not  die  of  dry-rot,  as  they 
certainly  will  if  apathy  in  Christian  work  continues. 


APPENDIX.  349 

But  "  How  shall  we  start  a  band?"  comes  the  cry  from 
all  quarters.  And  we  issue  in  answer  the  very  simplest  in- 
structions. 

Christian  sister,  when  this  burden  is  laid  on  you,  do  not 
feel  that  you  must  spend  weeks  discussing  it  with  the  whole 
community.  Mention  it  to  those  whom  you  can  who  may 
help  you.  but  begin — begin  !  Find  a  place  for  a  meeting. 
Open  your  own  dining-room  or  sitting-room,  or  beg  some 
neighbor's  room,  or  get  the  use  of  the  Sabbath-school  room. 
Give  out  a  notice  in  church  and  Sabbath-school  that  "all 
the  young  people,"  "the  girls"  or  "the  boys,"  or  "the  boys 
and  the  girls,"  just  as  you  have  decided  is  best,  will  meet 
you  at  such  a  time  and  place  to  hear  something  of  interest. 
In  the  days  that  remain  before  the  meeting  speak  to  every 
one  you  meet  or  can  see,  or  send  out  notes,  or  get  one  or 
two  of  your  young  folks  to  go  out,  urging  the  desired  par- 
ties to  attend.  When  they  come  together,  be  sure  you 
have  made  your  plan  beforehand,  and  have  something  to 
propose  clearly  and  do  not  daze  the  beginners  with  indefi- 
niteness.  Your  own  judgment  will  have  taught  you  wheth- 
er your  society  will  be  able  to  maintain  a  teacher  or  a  pupil 
or  to  send  packages  of  clothing  to  one  of  the  homes  or 
schools.  Lay  this  plan  before  your  little  meeting ;  make  it 
look  just  as  pleasant  as  you  can  ;  get  them  interested  ;  se- 
cure an  expression  of  opinions ;  let  them  tell  how  they 
will  do  their  part ;  make  some  of  them  officers ;  and 
hold  the  reins  yourself— \h&  more  skillfully  and  easily,  the 
better. 

Where  there  are  any  girls  to  be  got  together,  it  is  always 
best  to  have  a  regular  sewing-meeting — don't  make  it  a 
neighborhood  terror  by  including  tea — for  if  girls  meet  to 
sew  for  any  object,  they  will  become  more  steadily  inter- 
ested. Give  your  society  or  your  band  a  name  ;  let  them 
select  it  themselves,  and  let  them  choose  a  motto-text,  and 
be  sure  you  get  missionary  literature,  leaflets,  tracts,  papers, 
and  distribute  among  them.  Show  them  missionary  pict- 
ures and  read  them  missionary  letters.  I  have  encour- 
aged many  small  workers  to  faithful  effort  by  promising, 


350  APPENDIX. 

when  they  had  completed  a  garment,  to  pin  to  it  a  paper 
with  the  maker's  name  and  age. 

One  earnest-minded  woman  can  start  a  society  in  most 
unpromising  fields  if  she  have  executive  ability ;  and  if 
she  lacks  in  this,  let  her  cultivate  it.  Let  us  suppose,  my 
dear  woman,  that  you  have  a  large  dining-  or  other  room 
that  you  can  open  on  Saturdays  from  two  o'clock  until  five. 
Suppose  you  have  a  little  money  to  lay  out  and  consider- 
able ingenuity  in  using  your  material.  Keep  this  society 
and  its  work  always  before  you.  When  you  shop,  keep 
your  eyes  open  for  good  bargains  and  for  remnants  sold  at 
reduced  rates.  Think  of  your  society,  if  only  to  take  out 
the  spare  pennies  of  change  in  spools  of  thread,  in  buttons, 
needles,  pins,  for  it.  Have  the  society  sewing-box  always 
handy  to  receive  sewing-implements,  the  odd  buttons, 
spools,  remnants  of  tape,  and  so  on.  Have  the  society 
basket  near  at  hand  for  the  bits  of  flannel  for  needle-book 
flies  ;  the  scraps  of  velvet  for  pocket  pincushions  ;  the  scraps 
of  silk  for  boys'  ties  ;  the  scraps  of  calico  to  cut  patchwork 
to  send  to  that  Alaskan  sewing-school ;  the  squares  of 
plaid  or  cretonne  or  silk  or  bright  cashmere  for  work-bags ; 
the  remnants  of  flannel  that  will  make  hoods  or  skirts  ;  the 
odds  and  ends  of  worsted  to  crochet  into  scarfs ;  the  odd 
yards  of  shirting  left  over  that  will  make  aprons  and  shirt- 
waists ;  the  gingham  for  skirts  and  dresses.  Dun  your 
friends  :  you  can  be  a  great  means  of  grace  to  stingy  peo- 
ple by  making  them  give  something.  Take  your  spare 
hours  for  cutting  and  work ;  ask  a  friend  or  some  skillful 
miss  to  tea  to  help  cut  and  baste.  Buy  your  dolls  by  the 
dozen,  with  light  bodies,  when  you  go  into  the  city ;  keep 
your  girls  at  work  Saturday  after  Saturday,  and  the  year 
will  show  many  garments  sent  to  the  homes,  and  more  than 
one  Christmas  tree  hanging  full  of  gifts. 

If  there  is  no  one  woman  with  leisure,  room  and  means 
— and,  really,  it  does  not  take  many  dollars  yearly  to  keep 
such  a  society  going — let  two  or  three  get  together  and  club 
their  resources.  If  they  cannot,  unaided,  meet  the  express 
or  postage  charges,  make  collections  to  that  end. 


APPENDIX.  351 

Where  the  members  of  a  band  are  able,  let  them  bring 
their  own  material.  A  band  can  always  secure  a  child  to 
dress,  having  its  measurements  sent  by  the  teacher,  if  they 
write  to  one  of  our  Indian  schools.  Often  it  is  more  con- 
venient to  cut  out  garments  of  all  kinds  and  sizes  as  one 
has  material  and  proper  workers  to  make  them  up,  and 
send  underclothes,  shirts,  night-dresses,  aprons,  gowns, 
hoods,  socks,  scarfs,  mittens,  ruffles,  handkerchiefs,  hose, 
boys'  wear,  skirts,  neckties,  caps,  just  as  they  can  be  made 
ready — and  children  will  be  found  to  fit  them. 


THE   END. 


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